Resident Evil: Unsettled Revenge
by Gune
Summary: Umbrella kidnaps a group of civilians and imprisons them on a remote island. The following night of events will change their lives forever. My first RE fic ever. Please R
1. Trapped

**Disclaimer:** No I didn't create the characters of resident evil. The ones in this story are mine of course but the concepts, zombies, mutants, and umbrellas are not mine except for the plot of this story of course. Everything else belongs to Capcom and their buddies. I'm not stealing…just borrowing…and yeah the beginning of this may remind you of Code Veronica but it's just one part so…yeah I think all that makes my point.

**Author's Note:** This is one of the very first fan fiction's I have ever written and completed. That's right it is done. It was done a looooong time ago and then rewritten about twelve thousand times, long before I published the first three chapters here. I have decided to upload the rest of it, one chapter at a time, see how it is received. Hope it is liked. Oh and please excuse any five or six year old errors that may be in here.

**Resident Evil  
Unsettled Revenge**

**Chapter One: Trapped**

Locked up…for a short period of time.

Disoriented human senses slowly began regaining life. A weak sense of touch channeled the effects of a subtle rumbling through an unconscious human body. Two distorted and silent voices echoed around the pitch-black darkness surrounding the human.

"Quite the catch don't you think?"

A distorted chuckle rang in the darkness. "Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't fuck her before we brought her in."

Several different musty scents flowed in and out of the helpless human slowly bringing her back to life. Before she could react to the unbearable odor around her however, a near gallon of room temperature water ignited all of the senses resting inside the girl's body. A frightened scream escaped the girl as she sat up. Quick short breaths were all she could manage while frantically wiping the stagnant water from her eyes. Stale air burned her eyes as the water evaporated blurring her vision.

With a few blinks, black rusted walls came into view. "Wha…where am I?"

An M-4 Carbine assault rifle carried by a tall well-built man floated into view next. The stone cold expression did little to intimidate the girl since she was already scared out of her mind.

The man stared down at the frightened girl below him. Her brunette hair was soaked and the water on her face had run down her neck then settled over her chest as the black T-shirt she wore sapped it up. "Shut up and get up!" He centered the barrel of the assault rifle in front of her face.

Although she was confused and frightened the girl managed to stand then wiped the remaining water from her hands onto the tight black jeans she wore. "Are you deaf? I said where am I!" Her right hand rose to wipe some water from her face.

The tone in the girl's voice fueled an already present annoyance in the man's chest. He grabbed her hand then flung it down to her side. "Keep your hands down and get moving!"

Not completely oblivious to her situation the girl's fear began to subside as flames of anger burned inside her. "No! Who are you! And why did you bring me here!"

"I don't have time for this, walk or I rearrange you're face!" The man raised the riffle to the girl's face.

Frigid chills of fear resurfaced in the girl's chest dousing the raging flames and her natural instincts for survival set her legs into motion. For the first time since she awoke the girl noticed the door sitting on the far end of the room. Besides smelling foul, the air felt very cold, more cold than the girl had realized before she started walking. She stopped a foot away from the door and folded her arms rubbing them with her hands.

The guard pushed her. "Keep moving!"

"Where are you taking me!"

"You'll know when you get there, now move!"

The man shot a few rounds by the girl's feet causing her to jump away screaming in fear. Terrified but still competent the girl kept walking. Dark and depressing, the world outside of the room sucked almost every emotion from the girl's heart leaving her only with despair. Her head turned from left to right as she studied her surroundings. A cracked and broken road lay dead beneath her feet. To her right several small steel buildings each with its own small parking lot sat on the ground. To her left another row of buildings lined the ground, behind them a large broken down water tower stood tall in the night's sky. Around all of these structures, a huge barb wire fence surrounded to the girl's best judgement what appeared to be an old science complex. The only thing that stuck out through the old run down storage houses was one small building that seemed well built and well kept. Smoke puffed from the iron chimney and an electrical current ran through the walls every few seconds. Behind her, the building she had just stepped out of was gone. Tire tracks decorated the ground where the building once sat and as the girl's stare turned to the left she noticed a large military truck driving off towards a gated entrance with several guards standing on either side of it. Each guard carried an assault rifle similar to the weapon the guard behind her carried. _Where the hell is he taking me?_ She wondered. Slowly, her stare rose from the road to a large stone building. Like all of the others this structure was worn out.

The guard behind her pointed to the building. "That's where you're being taken, now keep moving." He started walking a bit faster until he was beside her.

The girl didn't want to study her surroundings anymore, she hated them, she wanted to be home with her family, she thought of closing her eyes but she hated the dark, so she watched her breath form in front of her for a distraction.

When they finally reached their destination the guard stepped in front of the girl and opened the door. "Inside."

The girl slowly walked inside of the building. The guard seeming to want to be somewhere in a hurry pushed her inside. "Hurry the hell up already!" The girl gasped and stumbled into the building and fell to her hands and knees then stayed there staring at the floor.

"Get up!" The guard yelled. "Hey Larry I got another one for ya!" He called out with his gloved hand cupped at the side of his mouth.

With that he turned and left the building shutting the door behind him. The girl looked up and a wall with a half circle extension similar to that of a hotel lobby was the first thing to come into view. But this was no hotel. Aftershocks from the door slamming behind her were still fresh in her ears and she knew her freedom was only a few steps away. As she stood, a round sinister face filled most of her vision. A silent sigh escaped the teenager with all of her hopes for escape.

Larry's stare rose from the girl's black sneakers to her long slender legs, slowed down as it passed her small waist and bare stomach, then stopped at her large breasts covered only by a tiny black T-shirt with sleeves that didn't extend beyond the top of her shoulders. His smirk revealed a set of yellow teeth with a large gap in the center. "Well, well…you're a pretty one aren't you?" Slowly, his smirk faded. "What a waste…" He grabbed her arm. "Come on, this way." He pulled her as he walked down a hall.

Larry didn't share the same hostile demeanor that the other guards possessed. This fact sparked a flicker of hope in the girl that maybe this man would actually answer her questions. "Hey! Where am I! Who are you people and why did you bring me here!"

"Ah…the three questions I hear every time I meet someone new…why can't anyone ever be more creative."

Once again the emotional flames in the girl's chest died and she decided not to bother asking her captors anything else. Disgusted by the sweat and grime oozing from Larry's hand, the girl yanked her arm away from him. "Stop pulling me I have legs you know."

A smirk peeked out from under the flab around Larry's face. "Yes…you most certainly do. I…_suggest_…you use them to follow me and not to run, cause if you use them to run then you will loose them." Larry started down the hall in front of his counter without checking to see if the girl followed him.

The girl figured a few things could explain Larry's lack of interest in her escape. One: he was too tired or lazy, two: she would have no chance of escaping even if she made it out of the building, or three: he was a lot faster than he looked. Larry's gut hung out over his pants and the rolls on the back of his neck quickly destroyed all of the third scenario's credibility. Larry led her down the hall and then down some stairs, the girl forced herself to look around so she could get a good memory of where she could run if the chance presented itself, not that she felt too comfortable about going back outside alone…not until daytime anyway. A strange odor was already hovering around the inside of the building making it hard for the girl to keep down what she ate before being abducted. Several turned over barrels littered the floor. A thick red substance seeped out of a few attracting hundreds of cockroaches and other insects. The girl covered her mouth while she gagged from the sight and stench then realized it was better the bugs were attracted to the barrels and not herself. A loud squeak turned her stare to the right and she spotted a large rat run out of one hole in the wall into another. Raising her stare to the ceiling brought thousands of spider webs filled with slain insects into view. _This is obviously a prison._

Larry reached the end of the hall and stopped beside a door on the left. Mockingly, he opened the door for the girl then hunched over as if he were escorting her into a fancy hotel room. "Your luxurious room awaits my lady, forgive me if you don't like the arrangements but we have other guests tonight and they are all just so messy."

A warm wave of relief washed over the girl as she saw several other people inside the room. They all had different faces but the same expression, a depressed, fearful look. She could tell they had been there for a while, their clothes were filthy and dirt sprinkled from their hair as they turned their heads. Most of them gave the girl a quick glance then continued with what they were doing, which was staring at the ceiling lying down or staring at the floor sitting up.

Larry held up a pad that he grabbed off of the round table back upstairs then looked down to the bottom of the list of names written on it. "Linn Renolds, what a pretty name." He laughed. "I hope you enjoy your stay at Umbrella rooms and board hahahahaha."

Linn didn't notice any other employee in the building besides Larry. "Thank you, Larry, I'll try my best to enjoy this shit hole."

Larry gasped then stared at Linn. "How did you know my name?"

From that point on Linn knew the intelligence level of the guards from this warden's stupidity. She tried to get as much fun out of her situation as she could. "I'm psychic and I have telekinetic powers! You better let me go or I'll turn you inside out!"

Larry's eyes widened in fear for a second then he shook his head. "Telekewhattic?"

Linn shook her head then sighed. "Never mind just get back to your luxurious job Mr. warden." Larry stared at Linn for a few more seconds, slowly backed out of the room, and then closed the door locking it.

Larry managed only a few steps away from the holding cell before a loud voice screeched from his walky talky resting on the side of his belt. "We have a prison break!"

"What!" Larry yelled to himself. He turned around then ran back to the cell door, unlocked it, and ran inside. Everything seemed to be just the way he left it until his stare rested upon two empty beds near the back of the room. One belonged to Linn who was walking over to it. A note was the only thing resting on the other bed. Still in shock, Larry ran over to the bed, picked up the note, and read it.

**Note**

Hey Larry, it was nice knowin' ya and I appreciate you showin' me around the prison room and all but I got other arrangements to attend to so I can't stay in this shit hole any longer, thanks again and peace!

**End Note**

Larry crumbled up the note in his hand then threw it to the floor. Linn stared at him confused, Larry ran back to the door and out of it, he slammed it shut locking it.

Linn picked up the note and read it. "Wow…someone escaped from here, I hope whoever it is makes it."

A woman walked up to her; she was about the same height as Linn. The woman's grim expression formed into a fearful one, a spark of anger flared on and off. "Don't say that! If that little punk escapes from here…they'll kill us all!"

Startled from the sudden shouting, Linn glanced up at the infuriated woman. "I'm sorry…I didn't know."

The woman stared at her for a few more seconds then walked back over to her bed.

"Don't mind her." A voice echoed from the bed above Linn's bed. "She's just scared like the rest of us, but she can't control it as well. What she needs to realize is that we're all going to die anyway…so there's no point in taking her fears out on other people."

Linn looked up to the top of her bunk bed. "Hey, is that how all of you think? What's the matter with you people? Someone _just_ escaped. How hard could it be to get by that weirdo, Larry?" Distracted by her own determination, Linn didn't realize she was shouting. The antagonizing laughs she got from the other prisoners confused her. "What? What?"

A man got up from his bunk and walked over to Linn. "That someone who escaped from here was no ordinary someone, he is what you would call fortunate."

"What do you mean?"

"He means that the boy who escaped from here was fortunate enough to have the skills and physical ability to do it." The answer came from the man above Linn. "_We_ on the other hand are just ordinary people and judging from the way you look, so are you."

"Well I may not be a muscular karate type of person but I'm what you would call a clever get out of tight situations person so does that count?"

"Hmmm, well it depends." The man beside Linn stated.

"On what?"

The man above Linn chuckled. "On how quickly you can outwit one of the finest military organizations in the world, and on how fast you can run."

"Well I can run a one hundred meter in nine point nine seconds…I'm guessing that's over the speed qualification." Linn said silently.

"Yes but you still need that other one." The man beside her pointed out.

"Hmm…well if they're just going to kill all of us anyway I think I'll take my chances with an escape plan."

The man beside Linn sat down on a chair. "Oh it's true…none of these people know who our _hosts_ are or why they brought us here, but what we do know is that every week one of us gets taken from this room and never returns."

"Well I know who they are, Umbrella, the people behind the destruction of Raccoon City." Linn said folding her arms.

The man couldn't help laughing. "We all know they're Umbrella, but that doesn't mean everyone_ knows who they are._ Sure they appear to be a pharmaceutical and software corporation but that can't be the truth, zombies aren't created from medicine."

"Zombies!"

"You mean you don't know? They were all over the screen when the news reported the situation in Raccoon City."

"I don't watch much TV…I just heard about it in college."

"Well there's no real proof that Umbrella was the cause but that was only because the only proof presented was quickly discredited. A gutsy reporter got a photo of them selling black market chemicals to a secret organization. No one had any info on the people they sold it to but the reporter explained that it was no medical group, more like a military group. The photo wasn't good enough for the paper; instead it got the back of a tabloids magazine. No one paid it any mind until the reporter suddenly disappeared."

"No one ever heard from the reporter again." The man above Linn said while chuckling.

"Until now." The man in the chair laughed a little then extended his hand. "Todd Richards, independent reporter. I cover flying saucers, big foot, and the lockness monster."

Linn shook his hand. "Nice to meet you…can you tell me more about what's been going on with Umbrella…? I knew this place wasn't someplace I'd want to be alone in…."

"Sure, I'll tell you all I know." Todd replied.

"There's a lot more to Umbrella than what I'm about to tell you but here goes. I know as much from what happened in Raccoon City seeing as how I'm a survivor, no one knew about me because I didn't go public with my escape. I simply sent anonymous photos with information to news stations and the white house…all of these places seemed to ignore me, probably because of Umbrella. Anyway, I was trying to get information on what the corporation was really up to, I didn't suspect as much that they didn't give a damn about the loss of an entire city. Even though the release of the _Tyrant Virus_ was an accident the bastards at Umbrella studied the monsters their viral weaponry created while the beasts ate everyone! Earlier, before the chaos started, I snuck into a warehouse on the outskirts of the city where the deal between Umbrella and those suspicious people went down. I had a small sound-enhancing device that I got from a friend who specializes in these sorts of things. I heard…."

**Flashback**

"Here it is, the Tyrant Virus just as we promised, do you have what we asked for?"

"Yes, here it is, one hundred million dollars in cash, this was very hard to come by, I'm hoping for your sake that what you're giving us does the same as what we saw in your lab comrade, or we'll be paying you another visit ja?"

"Oh don't worry boys, you're getting your moneys worth, I guarantee it."

**End Flashback**

"After that I took a few photos of the exchange, hid myself until they were gone, then got out of there."

"Wow…I would have never imagined." Linn said shocked.

"Well believe it cause it's the truth. Anyway, a few weeks after that the dying started… the people, plants, animals, even the insects started mutating into other things. I managed to escape and that's when I sent my recording and photos to the White House. Somehow, they found out it was me who squealed on them and where I live. Three days later on the news Umbrella covered its tracks. They said that the whole deal was a fake to bring down the biggest drug Mafia in Russia. They claimed there was a hidden tracking device in the brief case and that when they had the location of the Mafia headquarters they informed our government of their location. At first I thought I was a fool but later I learned that the government had no information on this operation until after my anonymous tip. My suspicions were right and I knew that Umbrella would be coming for me soon but before I could go into hiding they got me. Two men in suits broke into my apartment and knocked me out, when I woke up I was here." Todd sighed and folded his arms.

"Im so sorry." Linn said.

"Don't be, it's my fault for thinking I could take on Umbrella by myself."

"Hey, why haven't you tried to escape, Todd? If you managed to get out of that monster infested city a few guards shouldn't be too hard to sneak by." Linn wondered

"Yeah it does seem strange doesn't it? The truth is, I _have_ tried to escape but a few minutes after I got out of the building my stomach started ripping itself apart. I couldn't take another step and the reason for my pain was something they put inside me. It's some kind of electrical device that shocks me if I move too far away from the machine that operates it, I would have tried to shut the machine down but I don't know what it is or what it looks like." Todd replied.

Linn looked at him confused. "But why would they put one of those things in you and not in all of us? There couldn't be one in the guy who escaped from here if he's still on the run."

"Yeah I know, he doesn't have one. He's only fifteen and they thought it wouldn't be a problem to keep him here. They couldn't have been more wrong. Even _I_ could tell that kid wasn't staying here long. No one here really liked him though. He's as mean as hell and pretty much kept to himself. He's a quiet guy but trust me, you don't want to get on his bad side, I sorta wish I could've gone with him…I know I would've gotten out of here if I did."

"Wow…sounds like quite a guy, do you know his name?" Linn asked.

Before Todd could answer, a deafening explosion knocked the beds and chairs over. Everyone screamed while scrambling to their feet.

"What was that!" Linn yelled.

"I don't know!" Todd replied.

Another explosion shook the building. Some people got down under the turned over bunk beds and put their hands over their heads. Another explosion hit this time breaking the hinges off the cell door making it fall over. Linn stared at the empty doorway. Her eyes sparkled with tears of hope as she gazed up at her freedom. She was at the doorway in less than two seconds and down the hall in three with Todd following close behind her.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Linn slowed her dash as she turned to Todd. "Hurry up!"

Linn silently thanked herself for keeping her eyes open while Larry escorted her through the prison.

Her legs lost most of their strength when she reached the exit and her mouth dropped from intense shock. "What the hell…how could all of this have happened so quickly?"

When he finally caught up, Todd hunched over and grabbed his knees. At first he was too tired to realize what had happened. Finally, he caught his breath and stood up and as his sight took in the carnage in front of him his breath stopped. A maelstrom of chaos lay before the two escaped prisoners. Several craters and boulders were scattered across the land. Almost every storehouse was destroyed and flames raged throughout any that dared to remain partially intact. A few military trucks were in pieces around the destroyed storehouses. Half of a large black chopper with snapped propellers lay in flames on what was left of the fence. Beside the vehicle gate near the center of the broken down fence a military truck had smashed through the concrete wall. Beside the truck a door for the guards sat undamaged.

Linn shrugged then pointed at the door. "I guess we go that way."

Todd nodded in agreement. "Yeah…I hope that whatever destroyed this place destroyed the machine that controls the thing in my stomach."

Linn glanced at Todd as they walked towards the door. "Todd…why did they put that thing in your stomach?"

"Well I don't know really, I guess they figured if I was able to get photos of their exchange with those Russians and escape Raccoon City alive that it would be a risk to leave me unleashed." Todd replied as they reached the door. "Well…I guess if I got this far the machine was destroyed, that's a relief."

Linn forced herself to keep any flicker of hope that tried to ignite inside of her down. With her freedom from the nightmare she was forced into only a doorway away she couldn't help letting the flames of hope burn again. The door opened easily and Linn walked through. After only taking four steps beyond the door, two bloody hands grabbed her from behind. Struggling with whomever was holding onto her only helped the crazed human force her to the ground.

Linn screamed while frantically trying to get whomever or whatever was on her, off. "Todd help!"

Todd stood there staring at what had grabbed Linn; he was paralyzed with fear. Another terrified scream from Linn finally returned his senses to his body. "Linn!"

He grabbed the psychotic man and pulled him off of Linn then quickly backed away. His senses slowly started fading again refusing to let him remove his gaze from the man. "No…please god no…was I destined to die at the hands of these things…why…why me? What did I do? What the fuck did I do damnit!"

Linn got up changing her stare from the man to Todd. "What is that?"

Todd felt his sanity slipping away piece by piece and couldn't help laughing at the pointless question. "What the fuck do you think it is? It's a fucking zombie and if there's one then there's always more. Not to mention their bioweapon friends. It was just luck that I escaped Raccoon City, just luck…I'm going to die here…we're both going to die here, there's no escaping this curse! If you come in to contact with one of these things it doesn't matter if you escape…you're always drawn to them! No matter how safe and far away you feel you are…you can never truly be free of the death these things will give you!"

Linn grabbed Todd's shoulders and shook him. "Todd calm down! You've got to calm down! We're almost out of here!"

Everything that was Todd Richards, his personality, his smug grin, even the questioning gaze that every reporter is blessed with seemed to vanish after Linn stopped shaking him. His blank gaze rested in front of Linn's anxious stare. "Snap out of it Danny…we're almost out of here. They couldn't have possibly had enough time to barricade the sewers!"

Linn cautiously let go of Todd then slowly backed away from him. "Todd…what's the matter with you?"

Todd's gaze turned to a door on the other side of the area he and Linn had just entered. "Listen all's we have to do is keep following the water flow and we'll reach one of the drainage pipes that lets out into the valleys outside the city. So stop your complaining and…" Todd gasped. "Jesus Christ! What the fuck is that! Danny! Behind you!" Suddenly the independent reporter dashed towards the door leaving Linn alone with the zombie. "No! Let go of my brother!"

Besides not knowing what was going on, Linn couldn't believe what was happening. Forty seconds ago she had escaped from an illegal prison and was about to find a phone to call for help. Now she was alone with a bloodthirsty zombie. "Todd wait!"

Not having any handle on the situation quickly became the least of Linn's worries as Todd disappeared behind the red door. She darted after him but only managed two steps before the zombie's hand wrapped around her ankle. Crawling was pointless. Although decaying, the zombie's hand harbored an iron grip. "Let go of me!"

Before anything else could pass through Linn's mind, twelve feet away from her, large quantities of dirt blasted into the air. When the dust cleared a rotting clenched fist appeared from beneath the earth. Seconds later twelve more explosions of sand rang in Linn's ears. An eerie moan flowed out of the dead bodies rising from the ground into Linn's ears. Too frightened to even feel her own heartbeat Linn screamed and pulled harder. The zombie that had a hold of her rose to its knees and started crawling towards her ankle.

"No!" Linn screamed as she gave another desperate tug with all of her strength.

The zombie's superhuman strength did no protect its body from decaying. An adrenaline forced pull ripped the undead man's arm from its socket. Overwhelmed with relief that she had finally been freed from certain death, Linn barely noticed the near skinless hand attached to her ankle. Having to struggle to stand shattered her calm and returned her fear with a burning intensity. She quickly kicked the arm off of her ankle then rose to her feet. Escape entered her mind first, then as twelve corpses surrounded her all the reasonable thought she possessed died. With her intelligence gone Linn's natural instincts for survival took over her body. Unfortunately the only plan her instincts could conceive was backing away. Rough rusted metal ripped apart by concrete scraped against her back. Unaware that it was only an engine grill touching her back, Linn turned expecting to be tackled by some undead creature. Instead, the front half of a lifeless body decomposed silently on top of the truck hood. The other half dripped blood onto the driver's seat. The sight of a black shining gun clutched in the dead man's right hand slowly brought Linn's mind back under control. Wrapping her own hands around a dead bloody hand was not something she wanted to do but staring at two halves of a dead body was enough to bring up a lunch she hadn't eaten. Using all of her willpower to keep herself from vomiting, Linn relieved the dead man of his gun then quickly turned around. A dead stare and rotten teeth met Linn's terrified face. The black barrel of the gun rose in front of the zombie's face and three loud bangs intertwined with Linn's screams knocked the zombie to the ground. Immediately after the monster hit the ground Linn dashed for the red door on the other side of the walled in area. Frantically she pulled the door open then slammed it shut after stepping through it.


	2. Land of the Dead

**Chapter Two: Land of the Dead**

Dust swirled around a sturdy red door. Linn kept her stare on the metal object flinching every time one of the undead humans slammed into it. She was unaware her legs were moving until a loud crash sent a jolt of fear through her body, knocking her off of her feet. With her gun tightly clenched in her hand, Linn subconsciously pulled the trigger as her back hit the ground. A few seconds later Linn's breathing slowed and her fear finally let go of her senses. She swallowed hard then slowly stood to her feet. Finally able to hear again, Linn mentally blocked out the constant pounding from behind the red door then turned her back to it. After three steps into the new walled in area she had entered, Linn froze as a low growl flowed into her right ear. The loud crash that sent her to the ground popped back into Linn's mind. She slowly scanned the silent area in front of her and a turned over trashcan caught her attention. Slowly, Linn crept closer to the trashcan that was still rolling back and forth on its side then stopped two feet away from it. A quick kick and a fast jump backward were all the investigation the terrified teenager was willing to put into the situation. Still, the growling wouldn't stop. The trashcan once sat beside a large brown crate Linn cautiously peeked around the crate. All of the color throughout Linn's face faded. Blood leaked from several cuts and tooth marks decorated around what appeared to be a Doberman's face. A torn throat distorted the dog's bloodthirsty growl and a full set of yellowish red fangs glistened in the moonlight. Again Linn's brain stopped functioning and her body froze. It appeared as though her body's natural instincts for survival had been disabled as well until the blood-drenched fangs snapped an inch away from her face. Linn stumbled back then sprang to her feet. A split second passed and Linn already had her gun trained on the undead Doberman. Instead of firing, however, her fear took over her senses again turning her around. Linn ran as fast as she could towards a blue door on the far side of the area then stopped as a distorted bark rang in her ears. She turned and raised her gun emptying the clip into the ground. Too preoccupied with survival to even care how the dog could dodge eight bullets Linn pulled the door open then literally slammed it into the Doberman's face.

Another walled in area lay before Linn. This time Linn finally had the luxury to sit down. She slid down the door and let out a long sigh of relief. Her eyes opened and a large wooden cabin came into view. It had a floor deck that extended completely around the building. Each wooden step creaked at the touch of Linn's sneakers. Once she reached the front door of the cabin silent shuffling footsteps echoed from inside the building. Linn reluctantly pulled the cabin door open then cautiously peeked inside. Several chairs sat undisturbed under a large table that harbored over twenty plates covered with partially eaten meals. A piece of the cabin rose above the table. Four bookcases collected dust against the wall on the raised area. Two zombies wandered aimlessly around the table and another stood unsteadily in front of one of the bookcases. Linn steeled her will and walked inside but kept the door open incase any of the undead residents decided to notice her. A beige door on the far right of the dining/living room grabbed Linn's attention.

The next room of the cabin appeared to be identical to her old prison cell. Many bunk beds with green sheets and dead bodies were spread out across the floor. Linn slowly crept by the beds towards a door less doorway on the other end of the room. Although the lifeless bodies terrified her, Linn couldn't help starring at each one. Human teeth marks decorated all of the corpses hanging outside of their beds. A small hallway lay on the other side of the bedroom. The back end of the hallway harbored a square shaped window positioned near the ceiling. Foul odors swirled through the air from the kitchen located at the far end of the hall.

Linn wondered if reinforcing her hopes by talking would help make them reality. "Phones are in kitchens."

Her anticipation rose with each step she took towards the kitchen. Suddenly a deafening bang almost knocked her to the floor. Linn felt the next bang inside of her chest. She slowly turned around then let out an unexpected sigh of relief. The undead creature trying to break into one of the cabin's many windows still terrified Linn, however; knowing it couldn't get to her gave her a subtle illusion of power over the situation. She turned her back to the monster then continued walking towards the kitchen. With her anticipation slowly returning Linn found it easy to ignore the kitchen's graveyard stench. An initial scan revealed a dismantled kitchen. Turned over tables, broken cabinets, and rotting food littered the floor. Despair began to resurface in Linn's heart until a small yellow phone filled her gaze. The basic communications device rested silently hooked into a wall beside the kitchen's entrance. Linn pressed the receiver to her ear then dropped the phone along with a few tears. It took all of her willpower not to break down and cry. Another trip through the small hallway brought a small red box on the floor under the window into Linn's line of sight. A closer investigation of the box revealed thirty golden bullets packed inside. After she reloaded her gun and pocketed the box a loud crash rattled her brain.

Two seconds before Linn could react; the restless zombie outside of the cabin fell through the shattered window hole then landed on top of her. "Get off!! Get off!!" She screamed.

Linn's body reacted to the situation before her mind could process it. Her legs pushed her and the zombie into the air. A second later she backed up, ramming the undead man into the cabin wall. Free from the zombie's grasp, Linn left the monster twitching on the floor and ran as fast as she could back to the bedroom. All of the sleeping residents of the cabin awoke with an untamed hunger for human flesh. Linn knew the dead prison guards had risen from the dead before she even set foot in the bedroom. All of the adrenaline pumping through her veins washed away all of her fears. Two dead guards slithering around the floor reached out for the live flesh dashing by them while another dead umbrella employee tumbled out of bed, nearly tackling the terrified teen. After a few zigzags, Linn made it pass the two zombies in front of the dining table then out the front door.

She slid down the wooden door and sat leaning against it. "How much more of this am I going to have to go through?" Even though the question was to herself, not receiving an answer pushed Linn beyond her breaking point. She buried her face into her folded arms and cried.

Hours later, Linn stood in front of a door built into the wall behind the cabin. Again she was faced with another walled in area. This lot harbored only an undamaged military truck and two doors opposite to the one Linn came in through. Curiosity overshadowed her fear as she stared at the door on the other end of the lot. It was twice the size of the other two doors. A brisk walk across the misty lot brought Linn to the door. A closer examination revealed a large iron bar built into the large blue door. The center of the bar harbored a circular hollow, which appeared to have an image of a dragon head etched into it. Linn fingered the small design for a moment then froze and let her hand fall down to her side. A cold lifeless breath swirled around the back of Linn's neck. _Oh no…not again…not again…_ Linn's eyes remained open as she tried to look back without turning around.

She positioned her finger over her gun's trigger then slowly turned. "Oh my god!"

A massive yellow pile of sludge oozed in front of Linn. A hole near the top of the sludge opened wider and a set of decaying teeth flashed in the moonlight. Two more holes rolled open revealing two white eyes with blue pupils. Linn blinked her own eyes a few times and as her mind's natural reasoning returned she gasped as the sludge took on a human form. Huge chunks of oozing flesh formed sluggish muscles that sprouted throughout the yellow pile. Less than half of the creature's left arm was still intact and its fist remained clenched almost impossible to open. The beast's mutated evolution corrected this defect by enlarging its right arm until its massive fist dragged along the ground as it walked.

Linn released a horrified scream she was suppressing then raised her gun clenched in both of her hands and pulled the trigger until the loud bangs were replaced with silent clicks. Seemingly unharmed, the yellow sludge creature leaned forward until only an inch of air separated its face from its prey. Linn stumbled back into the door, slid off to the side, then ran as fast as she could towards a rusted beige door on the right side of the lot. As she looked back the sludge monster was gone. A loud thud followed by violent rumbling knocked Linn off balance causing her to fall face first into the yellow creature that had leapt halfway across the near fifty foot wide lot. Although the fact that she wasn't covered in whatever it was that functioned as the creature's skin brought Linn a small amount of relief, being put back in the situation she just escaped almost drove her insane. She quickly turned around then ran back towards the door from which she entered the lot then stopped abruptly as the creature's right hand wrapped around the back of her head. Linn only had a split second to wonder how the sludge monster could grab her from over twenty feet away. Her answer came as she flew backwards through the air and then pass the creature. The monster's hand kept a firm grip on Linn's head until its arm stretched out another twenty feet from its body. Linn screamed the entire time she flew up into the air until she hit the ground a few feet away from the truck.

Dazed and disoriented, Linn hardly noticed the creature's shadow covering her own. Finally she opened her eyes and raised her stare to the sky. The monster's right fist filled her vision. The oversized limb stretched high into the air then shot down towards Linn's face. All of her fear left her heart; any glimmer of hope had left when the sludge pile first appeared. No sadness, no despair, Linn had nothing left. She had tried her best to survive the nightmare she was unwillingly thrown into and failed. Her stare lowered to the ground and then her eyes closed.

Instead of an agonizing pain that comes with being crushed by a giant fist, Linn only felt a strong gust of wind blow pass her face. _No pain…what's going on? Am I dead or what?_ Her thoughts were answered by loud music. _Hip-hop…? _The sludge creature's fist slammed into the ground and stayed there as it centered its undead stare on the source of the music. Two earphones with no headband attachment slowly lowered into the right pocket of a pair of black baggy jeans. A white T-shirt extended down over the jeans and an unzipped orange and blue designer jacket covered the T-shirt. Linn couldn't take her eyes off of the young man.

Even as he gazed up at the undead monstrosity in front of him, his expression remained fearless and nonchalant. "Could you two chill with the noise? I'm tryen to relax and I need music to do that." He scoffed and took a step towards the truck. "Now you'd _think_ that a set of headphones would drown out all the _noise_." He let his sarcasm hang in the silent night air for a few moments then turned his stare to Linn. "But between all your shooting and screaming," his stare turned to the sludge creature, "and your stomping and farting, this c.d. player's volume levels really don't get the job done." Before he stepped back into the back of the truck, he took one last look at both Linn and the monster. "Now shut the fuck up already!"

Linn blinked once then kept her eyes open, too curious and confused to react. The monster, however, decided the boy would be a much better meal. Another gust of wind hit Linn as the monster leapt into the air once again, then landed with a ground-shaking thud. The boy lowered his stare to the monster's feet then raised it to the beast's face.

He repeated the process a few times then kept his stare on the creature's eyes. "You aren't gonna go away are you?"

Infuriated, the sludge creature jumped high into the air then raised its right arm. A second later the beast's massive fist shot down towards the boy who only sighed in annoyance. Three seconds before the fist reshaped him into a smoldering pile of flesh and bone, the boy back flipped out of the way. His c.d. player fell out of his pocket along with the attached headphones. The impact from the creature's fist shattered the stone ground and tossed the military truck ten feet into the air. The truck landed on its side and the monster landed two feet in front of it.

The boy glanced down at his now destroyed c.d. player and a frown overtook his face. "Mutha fuck…my grandma bought me that thing!"

The sludge creature hunched down preparing to charge the boy. Its mouth slid open and an ear piercing roar erupted from its throat. The boy reached to the back of his pants under his jacket and pulled out a nine millimeter handgun similar to Linn's and stared down the creature with an annoyed expression. Three loud bangs echoed throughout the lot and three blood gushing bullet holes ripped open on the monster's forehead.

A hint of confusion spread across the boy's face as the monster still found the strength to charge him. "Ah…shit."

A gurgled gag and a muffled thud rang in Linn's ears as the monster's fist rammed into the boy's gut. Her stare rose to the air turned to the right then lowered to the ground. The monster landed in front of the boy who sat unconscious against a lamppost. Without thinking, she quickly reloaded her gun with her last fifteen bullets then stood and let five of them rip open five small holes in the monster's back. Distracted but not stunned, the monster turned its bloodthirsty gaze to Linn. Before it could react, two brown skinned fingers taped the creature's left shoulder. When the monster faced the boy, its face met his fist. Even though the beast only stumbled back three feet, the boy had more than enough time to dash over to Linn.

His hand wrapped around her gun then gently yanked it away. "Can I borrow this a sec? Thanks."

Another roar erupted from the monster as it faced the boy. Constant bangs from both guns answered the beast's screams. The boy walked forward while unloading the contents of his weapons. The steady loss of blood finally began to overpower the sludge creature's will to live and the beast began to stumble back. As the monster's back hit the lamppost, the boy spun around once then slammed his right foot into the creature's chest. A golden bullet resting in the black barrel of the boy's gun was the last thing the creature saw before a pulled trigger launched the bullet into the center of the monster's skull. Several seconds passed while the undead monster died. The boy waited until the beast's blue eyes rolled up into its head then pulled his leg back letting the creature slide down the lamppost.

Linn let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and slowly walked over to the young man that had just saved her life. Without thinking her hand reached out and took back her gun. The next minute that passed was filled with silence and two awkward stares.

The boy scoffed, breaking the silence. "So what? No kiss? No hug? Not even a _thank you, _Michael?" His lips formed a smirk. "Say _my hero_." A few seconds passed. "Come on, say it."

Linn's bottom lip quivered uncontrollably. A gentle bite stopped the shivering but nothing she could think of would stop what came next. Blood rushed to her cheeks, coloring them bright red. Moments later, Linn's lips widened, forming an adorable smile then closed as she tried but failed to suppress an even more adorable giggle. A wave of shock rose from Linn's chest into her throat, halting her laughter for a few seconds. The realization that this was the first time she had blushed, smiled, and then laughed since she'd been kidnapped hit her then vanished as she began giggling again.

Michael only stared at Linn and made no attempt in hiding his confusion. "Right…" He turned and started walking towards the large blue door.

Linn looked up then jogged after Michael. "Hey, wait up!"

Michael turned and took a step back before stopping. "What do you want now?"

"You're not just gonna leave me here are you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind."

Linn's confused expression was almost as adorable as her smile. "Don't you think it would be safer to travel with someone in this place?"

"Yeah, but not with you." Michael's reply was smooth, almost sarcastic.

Linn's hands rose then rested on her hips. "Why not?"

This time Michael's lips formed a smirk. "Because you're a girl."

When she wasn't terrified, even Linn's frown was adorable. "Hey you jerk! I made it this far on my own didn't I? Besides if it wasn't for me, _you_ would be lying dead under that lamppost, not that…that…um…whatever that thing is!"

Michael chuckled then shook his head. "Actually I was only pretending to be unconscious to lure it in, that's why I got up _right _after I hit the ground."

A skeptical, yet adorable expression overtook Linn's face. "Whatever, I can still take care of myself." She hesitated for a moment. "And just what do you mean _because I'm a girl_? Just because I don't have a dick doesn't mean I can't handle myself!"

"Hey whoa, whoa, whoa…not an image I want slicing up my brain. Chill girl…I didn't even mean it like that."

"Oh…well I didn't know there was another way to mean it…"

"What I meant was…well shit have you seen yourself in a mirror? The painted fingernails, traces of glitter on your arms and face, tight jeans that you don't even need to show off those thighs. You're one of them girly girls. You'd only slow me down."

Linn's face took on another confused expression, not because she didn't understand the insult, but because she didn't feel insulted by it. "Well I…um…the glitter was thrown onto me by accident and the paint was one of my friend's ideas."

Michael's smirk intensified. "Uh huh, I bet you ain't even got no panties on."

Linn frowned while desperately trying to stop herself from giggling again. "Yes I do!"

Michael titled his head to the side. "Are they pink?"

Too unraveled from her own emotions Linn couldn't think fast enough to stop herself from speaking. "Yes…wait no!"

"So you're _not_ wearing panties?"

"Yes I am but I'm not telling you what color they are!"

Although he enjoyed outwitting Linn conversationally, Michael began to grow impatient. "Whatever, the fact of the matter is I don't have time to adultsit you, aight? I'm not planning on taking any breaks because you get tired."

"Adultsit? Hey I can keep up with you."

"Yeah right, you may be in good shape but that doesn't mean you won't get tired. You need endurance training for that, physical and mental. And for this place you'd have to push that training way pass its limit."

"How do you know I haven't had any endurance training huh? How?"

Michael chuckled again then smiled. "Because you're a girl."

Linn growled adorably while folding her arms then turned her stare away from Michael. "You…meany."

It took an exceptional amount of Michael's willpower to keep his jaw from dropping after Linn growled. _This girl is gonna get me killed in this place…but…she's so damn fine._ "Oh for fuck's sake, aight, aight you can follow me. Just don't expect me to stop if you do."

"Hmph, I don't even know if I want to go anywhere with you, now that I've gotten to know you."

Michael shrugged. "Aight then, cya."

Linn hesitated as she watched Michael walk off toward the blue door. She bit her lip again, this time quelling the latent giggle building up in her chest. Two seconds later she ran off after Michael and they both stopped in front of the blue door. Again Linn stared down at the silver bar and the dragon crest etched into its center. Michael reached into one of the front pockets on his jeans then pulled out a flat yellow circular piece of metal. A dragon head image was etched into the metal tablet and the object slid smoothly into the iron bar. Michael pressed his palm to the tablet then turned it to the right. As the tablet turned, several clicks rang in the two human's ears. A hard push revealed the large blue door to be two separate blue doors joined together by the iron bar.

A long broken down wooden bridge lay in front of the two teenagers. On the other end of the bridge a set of metal stairs leading up a twenty-foot high cliff slowly rusted away from the sea air. Linn gazed out at the stairs then turned her stare to the left. The ocean stretched out in front of her eyes, which one she wasn't sure. To her right the large body of water kept the land separated for as far as her vision stretched. Her wandering gaze eventually came to a halt on the boy standing next to her. Michael's head didn't turn; instead his eyes rolled from left to right a few times then centered on the stairs.

The bridge creaked under Michael's weight as he stepped forward. "Watch yourself on the fourth and twelfth steps, they're loose."

Linn stood silent, staring at Michael's back for a moment before she started after him. "How could you possibly…oh nevermind."

Linn could barely make out a single step when she first saw the stairs. The fact that anyone could tell which steps were loose from over fifty feet away was so unbelievable that she couldn't help testing both of the steps Michael labeled faulty. Step four, only shook under her weight. Step twelve, however; broke off and crashed on the ground below the staircase. Linn gripped the railing tightly and held on for dear life. Michael turned at the sound of the step hitting the ground then only shook his head at the sight of Linn struggling back onto the stairs.

Ever since she survived her first encounter with the undead, Linn decided that nothing else she witnessed or experienced in life would surprise her. After nearly being eaten by a zombie Linn took a moment to wonder how anything else could raise even a hint of surprise in her heart. When she reached the top of the staircase her wonder died and pure shock replaced it. Even Michael had trouble believing what lay in front of him.

"You have got to be adulting me…" Michael finally managed to speak.

Over forty clean and undamaged homes lined twelve equally cleaned and undamaged streets. A town laid out on the middle of an island didn't seem strange to the teenagers. Being fortunate enough to find a town in the middle of an undead monster infested island took their breaths away. Michael stepped off the staircase and onto the pavement. Linn followed close behind him.

"So um…do you know where we are?" She tried her best to hide her excitement.

"No."

"Do you think anything is still working here?"

"No."

"Do you think anyone is still living here?"

"Hell no. What kinda dumbass question…" Michael shook his head. "Nevermind."

Another frown overtook Linn's face. "Well I'm just trying to socialize and you're like the only person here to talk to."

"No I'm not, why don't you go talk to one of them?"

As Linn removed her frustrated gaze from Michael, she noticed that they had passed at least five houses and traveled deep into the town. Down the street, three undead residents limped down the street towards the two living humans. An explosion of ice cold terror froze Linn's nerves and glued her feet to the ground.

Five feet away from the zombies, Michael noticed Linn had stopped following him. He turned his back to the monsters and studied her expression. "What's the matter with you? What you constipated or something?" He smiled as an even more logical answer struck his mind. "Oh I know, that _time of the month_ just rolled in didn't it?"

Linn remained frozen to the ground, unable to move. "Zzz…zom…bies…"

Confusion spread across Michael's face. His stare switched from Linn to the undead people behind him then back to Linn. He pointed at the zombies with his thumb. "What? You scared of these things? Come on now girl these bitches ain't bout nothin'." Linn's eyes widened as one of the undead creatures reached out for Michael. In her mind she heard herself calling out to him but the words never made it out of her mouth. Michael casually stepped to the side then held his foot out and the mindless zombie tripped over the boy's leg and its decaying face splattered over the pavement. The closest of the remaining two zombies reached out with her flesh torn arms, gagging on her own fluids. Michael quickly leaned to the side dodging the dead woman's hands. His lips formed an overconfident smirk as he continued to play with the bloodthirsty zombie, quickly maneuvering away from her grasp. Linn's fear began to subside as she watched Michael toy with the two zombies. Part of her couldn't understand how the boy had no fear for his own life and at the same time part of her couldn't help admiring him. _That idiot…that…cute idiot…_

After only taking one step toward Michael, Linn noticed the dead man lying in the middle of the street wasn't dead but instead he was still undead. The zombie reached out and grabbed Michael's ankle. Michael Stumbled but didn't trip. The two zombies that still stood both managed to get a grip on Michael's arms. Two seconds of struggling went by then Michael raised his arms and slapped both undead creatures off of him then pulled his leg back and launched it forward kicking the grounded zombie's head off. A hard punch knocked the undead woman back into the undead man behind her and they both squirmed on the street trying to rise back to their feet.

"Fucking muck mouthed freaks." Michael commented as he brushed some dust from his shoulders.

When Linn finally caught up to Michael she couldn't help stopping to admire what he had done. "You…they…but…wow…"

Michael's smirk met Linn's blank stare. "You gonna say _my hero_ now?"

Linn smiled then stuck her tongue out at Michael who only stared at the pink wet flesh until it retracted back into the girl's mouth. "Uh…shouldn't we be searching these houses?"

Michael thought about it for a moment. "Hmm…"

Three seconds later Michael and Linn stood in front of one of the many houses of the town. Linn turned the doorknob then sighed and let go. "I guess we'll have to try the next one." Michael stared at her for a moment then slammed his right foot into the door. The door blasted off its hinges then crashed through a glass table sitting in the middle of the living room.

Linn stared at the destruction for a moment then smiled and shook her head. "Boys."

Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary except for nothing being out of the ordinary. Everything, although dusty, sat or hung in its proper place, undisturbed. Broken shards of glass cracked underneath Michael's sneakers as he stepped into the house. Linn followed close behind while trying her best to avoid the glass.

Michael looked back as he made his way towards the back rooms of the one floor house. "Check the drawers and cabinets for a map of this place."

Linn looked up at him. "Where are you going?"

"To look in the back."

"Can't we check the same rooms at the same time?"

"Look, I can understand you wanten to get me into a bedroom but now's not the time aight?"

"Are you gonna mock me the whole time we're in this place?"

"Mock? I'm dead serious."

Michael disappeared into the back rooms and Linn quickly started after him. Ironically they ended up in the master bedroom of the house. Michael's eyes lit up at the sight of an expensive radio sitting on a marble dresser near the bed. He pulled a c.d. from his back pocket, popped open the case then shoved it into the radio. Linn stared at Michael confused as he jumped onto the bed and stretched out, putting his hands behind his head. Michael reached over and turned the radio volume to its maximum level. Another hip-hop song blasted from the radio, echoing throughout the silent town.

Michael closed his eyes and removed his stress and attention from the world. "I'ma buy cars I'ma get clothes, I'ma stock jewels I'ma fuck hos, I'ma blow tweeds, gotta lotta dranks, steppen out gatta Coca-Cola mang. I need it in my life, I want it in my life, come put it in my life, I'ma keep it in my life!"

Linn blinked twice then kept her eyes wide open. She waited until the song ended before she spoke. "I thought we weren't going to take any breaks." She couldn't help giggling.

Michael kept his eyes closed. "I said I wouldn't take any _rest_ stops. This is a music break, _get it right_."

Linn's lips formed a wide smile. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry. But don't you think all this loud music will attract something?"

Michael's eyes opened slowly. He pulled his gun from the side of his pants and a second later a young man no older than sixteen twitched on the floor with blood gushing from a head wound. Startled, Linn flinched then stared down at the dead zombie then looked up at Michael who had set the gun down on the bed and put his hand back behind his head. Another song began playing and although Linn didn't like the idea of staying in one place for too long given the current situation, she was tired. A nice rest didn't seem like a bad idea.

Half an hour later Michael and Linn left the house without a map. "Wait, we didn't try any of the phones." Linn said turning around.

Michael stared at Linn. "Hey, brunette chick."

Linn stopped and turned around. Michael's thumb pointing up at the broken power lines filled her vision. "Hey I got a name you know." She waited for him to ask what her name was. She waited for over a minute. When Michael turned and started walking down the street she suppressed her shock then ran after him. "It's Linn!"

The scent of live flesh swirling through the air brought out over sixty of the town's undead residents. Slowly, they began filling up the streets. Linn tried her best to keep up with Michael while constantly turning in every direction, trying to keep every zombie in her sights. Michael turned right down the next street then stopped as eleven undead citizens blocked his path. He started down the left street then stopped as nine zombies wandered around, steadily advancing towards him.

"Uh huh…" His hand lowered then wrapped around the barrel of his gun. Before Michael could pull his gun a loud whistling sound grabbed his attention. "What the fu..."

Linn's eye's widened at the sight of a small rocket whirling through the air. The explosive smashed into the ground ten feet away from Michael and the resulting explosion blasted him into the air then shot him back with great speed. Michael crashed through a large rectangular window built into one of the deserted homes and vanished inside the house. Linn's breathing became sluggish, when it finally returned to normal, she dashed over to the front of the house. Five zombies had already piled into the house. The fact that the undead humans were still standing gave Linn a little hope in thinking Michael hadn't been eaten yet. Her gun rose in front of the zombie closest to her. A loud bang rang in Linn's ears, but the blast didn't originate from her gun. Four more bangs dropped the four zombies still standing in the living room of the house.

Michael slowly stood to his feet then stepped out of the house stumbling over some of the wreckage. Linn took a step back, unable to believe the boy in front of her only had a few scratches on his head and arms after being blasted through a building.

"Michael…are you ok?"

Michael held his head with his right hand, which he also held his gun with. "Well besides the headache…" He let go of his head and hunched over then shot an undead woman reaching out for Linn. "I'm fine." His left back pocket harbored three gun clips. Michael quickly reloaded his gun. "Ok. Before I got my nuts roasted…I saw a really big building down the street. It looked like the town ended there, so that's where I'm goin."

Michael started down the right-sided street again; this time shooting any undead person that stood in his way. Linn flinched as she turned around and again hesitated while staring at Michael's back. A few seconds later she walked off after him taking care not to step on any of the smoking zombie remains created from the explosion. Linn stopped at the sound of a loud thud. A disturbing mesh of skin pulling apart and then joining back together turned her stare to the roof of one of the houses. She gasped at the sight of another undead sludge creature. The monster slung its arm thirty feet towards a lamppost. Its hand wrapped around the large pole just as Michael walked pass it. Linn's mind froze for a second and that was all the time the creature needed to ride its arm off of the roof.

Michael stopped half a foot away from the lamppost and let out a sigh. Before Linn could call out to him, Michael raised his gun into the air and without turning or even facing the monster, pulled the trigger. A golden bullet split the mist intertwined with smoke from the explosion and ripped through the monster's skull then flew out the back of its head. This, like before, wasn't enough to kill the beast, but the force of the impact from the bullet combined with speed the beast had already generated from its jump took away the sludge monster's control over its limbs. The large yellow hand wrapped around the lamppost pulsed and tightened snapping the pole in half. Michael let his arm drop to his side as the monster let go of the pole after pulling it into the air. Linn turned her head, unable to stomach seeing the jagged end of the broken lamppost smash through the sludge creature's face. Blood, brains, and skull fragments splattered everywhere behind Michael and the monster's dead body hit the ground with a loud thud.

Michael slowly took in a deep breath then quickly released it and continued down the street. A few surviving zombies began to limp in Linn's direction after taking notice to her. With no desire in becoming anyone's midnight snack, Linn ran after Michael while again making sure to avoid any dead or undead remains scattered across the streets.


	3. Abandoned Death

**Chapter Three: Abandoned Death **

Deep within Umbrella owned lands, standing tall and defiant, an abandoned factory once used to produce the many military vehicles scattered throughout the complex refused to rust away like many of its run down brethren. It was almost as if the hundreds of ransacked laboratories used to house and experiment with thousands of viral born bio-weapons mutated the iron walls of the factory, giving it an unnatural will to survive.

Michael glanced up at the steaming factory of death while pulling one of the last two handgun clips from his back pocket then lowered his stare and any small amount of respect he had for the building to the ground, reloading his gun. Linn came to a halt beside the young man, unable to remove her gaze from the mystifying structure. An uncontrollable fear swirled around her heart as she stared up at the factory. Her brain unwillingly shot several horrific scenes from a movie she'd seen in which a house possessed with a demonic soul nearly murdered an entire family.

Two loud clicks from Michael's gun snapped Linn's mind back into focus. "Tell me again why we have to go in there?" Her voice trembled with every word she spoke.

"_We_ don't have to go anywhere. You can stay out here if you want." Michael replied showing little concern for Linn's fears.

Linn had become familiar with Michael's lack of feeling for anything in the world and was unaffected by his cold answer. "Ok then why are you going in there?"

"Because I feel like it." Michael glanced at Linn. The fear and despair projected by her eyes cut a hole in his steel heart. "Look, this is a factory."

"So?"

"Factories have radios and radios don't need phone lines to work."

_How the hell did I get myself into this? How the fuck did I end up in a place like this?_

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Twelve rotting corpses quickly crowded around a young man. Their eyes stared off into a distant limbo between life and death. Their arms reached out; parting the mist and thousands of ghosts blocking the clear path to the live flesh glistening in front of a stained and rusted steel wall. Broken words…loud cries…distorted screams and hungry groans generated from torn throats and seeped out of blood soaked mouths.

Two green eyes constantly rolled from the left to the right. "What the fuck is wrong with you people!?" Heavy perspiration oozed down from several lochs of brown hair clinging to pale skin and a furrowed brow. "No way am I getting munched on by some old dirty bastards!"

An unfortunate woman who had lost her life to the horrors lurking throughout the town and complex pushed her way through the undead crowd. Her blonde hair flung back following her movements. Several tears in her business suit revealed her once useful attractive features to the all but one uninterested males surrounding her.

Although his mind and spirit were terrified, every other part of the man's body had no intellect or will of their own "Ok…I might let you do some munching if you were alive." He allowed himself two seconds of hesitation. "Shit if bites from you psychos didn't make other people go psycho…"

Distorted snarls from the zombies pushed the man's back against the wall. Instinctive human impulses for survival guided the man's hands against the wall. His frantic grab for life almost caused him to overlook the worn out doorknob camouflaged by the brown rust intertwined with green grime and moss. The undead hands of the zombies pressed hard against the door then slid up the filthy wall as the senseless creatures continued to walk forward as if the metal barrier didn't exist.

A white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans glowed weakly under the dim light inside a small square room. _Ok Thomas; take it easy…they're gone._ A sharp vibration shook Thomas's heart as the zombies outside finally realized an obstacle blocked their path. Slowly, he regained control of his breathing, ending his hyperventilating. His feet froze to the floor as his mind retook a hold on his legs. His hand wiped away the sweat from his forehead, brushing back his brown hair. "Ok…now what." Thomas scanned the room he entered with latent thoughts of more undead people hiding in every shadow the light failed to illuminate.

Over thirty TV monitors lined the far right wall of the room. A massive steel sheet covered the entire top half of the left wall. Thousands of keys hung still and silent on hundreds of small metal pegs plugged into the sheet. A large green desk and a few chairs took up the space in front of another wall. Two teenagers captured Thomas's attention. Linn and Michael stepped into the line of sight of the monitor's camera inside one of the many offices located inside the abandoned factory. The fear and tension pulsating through Thomas's veins slowly faded allowing his blood to circulate and recolor his pale white skin to its normal pinkish glow.

Curiosity replaced anxiety and relief washed over the teenager's senses. "Now all's I have to do is find them…" His stare turned to the keys shinning from the other side of the room.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Deep within the corporation owned complex, an airstrip cracked and crumbled under forty different planes and choppers. The immense weight of the air traversing vehicles was not the cause of the facility's plight. Instead it was the dense vegetation that had settled over the roads and buildings. Giant vines stretched out across all four runways. The bodies of these vines rose over eighty feet in the air and sixty feet in diameter. Ferocious sharp fanged plants towered over the vines.

A small group of humans raced across one of the decimated runways with a herd of brown rotting two legged flower buds in close pursuit. "I told you coming to this place was a bad idea! Didn't I tell you coming to this place was a bad idea!?" One traumatized man screamed.

"Will you shut up and let me focus on running!?" Another man yelled.

"Why!? It's not like we can outrun these things!"

"I don't have to outrun them I just have to outrun you!"

One of the women among the group stumbled as she tried to keep up. Her short dark brown hair splashed over her eyes and nose as she turned her head in the direction of the plant creatures. Her stare centered on the vines and vehicles in front of her. "Damnit…! Where is he!?"

"Just keep running!" Another female replied.

Two small private jets faced each other thirty feet down the runway in front of the fleeing humans. The airstrip's exit was not far from this makeshift checkpoint and this fact kept each of the exhausted survivors up and running. Once they reached the wheels of the left jet however, one of the massive vines decorating the airstrip crashed into the runway ripping apart a large section of the road. All of the startled humans were thrown a few feet into the air then hit the ground with several thuds. Long cylinder tongues with pointed ends lashed out at the live flesh in front of the plant buds. Drool and other fluids gushed out in between long blood stained fangs.

One of the women used her long dirt stained legs to push herself back into the wheel of the nearly turned over jet. "Cy…Cy…Cy…Cynthia! Get up Cynthia; it's coming right for you!"

The other woman of the group rose to her hands and knees. Her long red hair draped over her back and shoulders as her stare centered on one of the plant creatures. "Shhhi."

Before Cynthia could say anything, two constant clicks repeatedly echoed in her ears. A quick glance behind the wheel of the jet revealed two black military issue boots. Tucked neatly into the boots were long black military issue pants with a black belt laced through the loops. A long black overcoat draped over a short black jacket with the umbrella logo stitched into its upper right corner covered the top half of a tall well built man with short black hair.

The plant buds' heads harbored no eyes but they still noticed the fresh meat that appeared from behind the jet. Slowly, the overcoat came to a halt at the back of the man's feet. His blue eyes scanned the group of five mutated plant monsters as they crept closer to the people in front of him.

One of the men reluctantly sitting on the pavement stared up at the man dressed in black. "Are you done taking in the night air…? Do something!" His head turned at one of the bud creatures' roars.

The barrel of a small rocket launcher peeked out from underneath the black overcoat. "They said we would be keeping corporate spies out of their secret facilities." He centered the crosshairs of the sight scope onto the lead plant bud. "Not fighting zombies and mutant freaks."

As the monster roared again, all of the escaped prisoners scrambled behind the jet wheel just before a rocket launched from the bazooka resting on the soldier's shoulder. The rocket propelled grenade jammed itself down the bud creature's throat and the following explosion blew the soldier's overcoat back into the wind. The umbrella employee turned his back to the slain monsters then dropped the bazooka and stepped over to the trembling survivors.

"God damnit, you took your sweet time getting here didn't you?" One of the men snapped.

The soldier only smirked and turned facing his handiwork. "It's funny…I was all set up to be a gardener before Umbrella pulled me out of society."

"Somehow I just can't picture that." The strawberry red haired woman stated.

"Well that, Cynthia, is because you haven't met the civil citizen Mark. You've only met the U.B.C.S. (Umbrella Biohazard Counteractive Service) Special Forces branch, Mark.

"I wouldn't flaunt that information too much if I were you." The second man in the group of survivors warned.

"Easy there, Frank. I wanna get the hell out of here just as bad as you do." Mark assured him.

"So you can turn us all over to your employers?"

The other male escapee placed his hand on Frank's shoulder. "Hey, calm down."

"Thank you, Richard." Mark nodded to him.

Richard wiped the sweat soaked strands of his short blonde hair back off of his forehead. "I didn't say it for your benefit."

"Oh for Christ's sake! Did I not just save all your sorry asses?"

"He's got a point there." The woman with short brown hair pointed out.

Cynthia shook her head while holding it in her right hand. "Oh shut up, Lisa."

Lisa stared up at Mark, who was leaning against the jet wheel unloading and reloading one of his handguns. "So…what do we do now?"

Mark hadn't noticed how close Lisa had approached him. When he glanced up in the direction of her voice his military gaze met her terrified yet hopeful gaze.

"You're asking me?"

"Well…you are a soldier and you do work for the people who built this place."

Mark lowered his stare while forcing any romantic thoughts about the attractive woman in front of him that tried to surface out of his mind. "Yeah well I did memorize the grid map of this place but a lot of good that did us. I mean take a look around. Just because I know where something is doesn't mean I know what's lurking around in it.

"Maybe we can get out of here in one of those choppers?" Cynthia wondered.

Mark shook his head. "There's no way those vines or giant plants are gonna let us even get to the choppers let alone get them off the ground."

"Isn't there anywhere else we can get off this god forsaken island?" Frank pleaded.

Mark hesitated for a moment then turned his head at the sound of more plant creatures stomping toward him. "There might be, but we have to get out of here first." The Umbrella mercenary quickly holstered his gun and grabbed the rocket launcher from the broken street. "Let's go."

A violent rumbling halted the five survivors' advance knocking two of them back to the ground. Mark and Richard both gazed up at the new monster that blocked their path. Fifty feet of black shadow stretched out devouring the two private jets along with the five bewildered humans.

"Oh you have got to be shitting me." Mark concluded.

A forty-foot high eighty-foot wide green vine towered over the broken runway. Thousands of green thorns decorated the plant limb and at the top of the vine twelve red petals surrounded a brown decaying face with three slits. Two of the slits, which remained closed, acted as eyes for the beast while the third stretched horizontally across the bottom of the face. The ear-piercing roar that erupted from the plant revealed two sets of razor sharp fangs dripping with drool behind the third silt.

Mark quickly turned around and before he could take a single step, stumbled at the sight of ten more plant bud creatures. "Holy shit!"

"Now what the fuck are we gonna do!?" Cynthia shouted.

Richard glanced at the monster free path to the left of the group. "Fuck this…"

The four other survivors followed Richard as he crossed over to another runway.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Two weak three foot long cylinder shaped light bulbs repeatedly flashed on and off. Five feet below them a large rectangular device with several knobs and multicolored lights flew across a square shaped room. A loud crash echoed off of a steel wall covered with fading silver paint. Thousands of tiny components sparked and sizzled on the metal floor.

"Fucking useless!" An agitated male voice boomed over the silent ambience of the small room.

"Calm down, Michael…we'll find something." Linn's soothing voice echoed softly off the walls. She gazed down at the sheet of paper in her right hand.

**File **

**Memo to all active project managers:** New T-Virus and G-Virus samples will be sent to their respective containment facilities. Each antidote base for said viruses will be stored together and placed in each active laboratory. If any project should be shut down after the antidotes are sent the said antidotes should either be moved to another active laboratory short on supplies or disposed of. No antidote base should be placed in either virus containment area. More importantly the antidotes should never under any circumstance be placed in a bio-weapon containment facility. Anyone who disobeys these orders will immediately be removed from any active and or inactive projects they are currently assigned to and terminated from company employment. This, as all employees know will reduce the said perpetrators to civilian (guinea pig) status.

**End File. **

"Michael you should take a look at this." Linn suggested. She handed the memo to him and watched him read it over. "What are those base things they're talking about?"

"This whole mess started up from a virus. A virus they knowingly and purposely created. So of course they made an antidote in case one of their homies bites them in the ass." Michael stared down at the destroyed radio and scoffed. "Fucking useless…"

"Hey don't worry about that. We'll eventually find a way out of here." Linn assured him.

Michael took in a deep breath, exhaled, let the memo fall from his hand to the floor, and then turned to Linn with a sly grin on his lips. "I guess…but until then…why don't we release some of this sexual frustration hip hoppin' around between us?"

Linn took a step back as a frown crept onto her face. "You…"

Before she could insult him, Linn was silenced as Michael's hand snapped into the air.

"Shh…" The young man ordered as his carefree demeanor warped into his all too familiar warrior like stance.

Just as she had accepted his indecent personality, Linn had learned to pay close attention to Michael's instincts and take heed to his innate sense of danger. As she watched him turn, slowly scanning the room, an unexpected emotion sparked inside of her chest as the realization to an unexpected fact flared up in her mind. _I…I trust him. I just met him but I trust him._

Linn turned as steam suddenly brushed against her arm. Soon the young woman realized that nothing had brushed against her but instead a strange sound that was unnoticeable earlier had stimulated her eardrums and at the same time fooled her brain into thinking a gust of steam had swept pass her.

"What…"

"Shh!" Michael silenced her again.

Linn's eyes followed Michael's gaze around the room then settled onto his back. Slowly, Michael's head leaned back as the ceiling filled his vision. The once low steam like sound warped into a loud hiss that did little to startle the two teens but instead increased their curiosity as to the origin of the noise. Their answer came with a burst of horror as a long strand of pink flesh shot out from the open ventilation shaft centered above the unsuspecting young man.

"What…the fuck!?" Michael screamed while the pink rope of flesh wrapped around the rude warrior's head covering his eyes and tightening around his chin. "Oh hell no! Get this slimy shit the fuck off me!" He frantically grasped at what in his opinion appeared to be a tongue with both of his hands, which only caused his mysterious captor to tighten its grip. With one unnaturally powerful tug, Michael was lifted high into the air and his head slammed into the vent denting the weak metal.

"Michael!" Linn screamed reaching out for Michael's legs. After successfully putting her own tightening grip on the unfortunate young man, Linn pulled with all of her strength and a flicker of relief sparked behind her eyes as Michael's body lowered from the ceiling.

A moment later that relief was doused as the tongue pulled Michael from Linn's hands and up into the shaft. Michael, now unconscious from his head destroying the vent that once blocked the shaft, was pulled from sight deep into the ventilation system. Thousands of panicked thoughts ran through Linn's mind in the three seconds it took her to pull one of the few chairs in the room under the vent and climb up inside. Michael's limp body filled her vision the moment her head cleared the thin metal floor of the shaft then quickly began sliding away into the darkness. Besides the fact that the terrified prison escapee did not want to search the complex maze of facilities alone, she couldn't imagine herself surviving her unwillingly accepted situation without the young man being stolen away from her by another one of Umbrella's nightmares.

Suddenly, Michael's body came to an abrupt halt above another open vent. Linn's soft skin glistened with sweat as she regained control of her breathing. A loud bang echoed below her. A second later the shaft floor cracked then ripped open. Shock froze Linn's movements until a loud thud caused her body to flinch. Terrified, Linn cautiously peeked out over the destroyed shaft and saw Michael lying unconscious on the floor of the room below, the tongue still wrapped tightly around his face. Strangely, the thought of more undead creatures lurking below her or inside the ventilation shaft had never crossed her mind, only the insured safety of Michael's life. Three seconds after spotting the fallen warrior, Linn climbed down from the shaft and landed lightly on the thin metal floor.

One step towards Michael's body caused the tongue to pull him three feet back. Soon Linn found herself running across the room after Michael's unconscious body. A quick turn through the open doorway of what at a quick glance appeared to be a ransacked laboratory brought a massive creature into view. Linn's heart dropped at the sight of the beast. A pink pulsing brain throbbed on top of an eyeless human shaped head with a set of razor sharp fangs decorating its mouth. Bright red muscle tissue with no skin to cover it also pulsed with every reptilian movement the human form made. The creature's fingers and toes flattened and sharpened forming claws that clicked and scrapped along the ground. A pink mesh of distorted flesh clung tightly to an unnaturally flexible spine that appeared to be as soft and moist as the skin around it.

It took Linn's mind a few moments to begin receiving signals from the other parts of her body. Another handful of seconds passed before the petrified teenager's lips moved, forming broken words then short sentences. "Wha…wha…huh…how…why…Oh my god! What the hell is that!?"

An ear piercing roar escaped the monster before its tongue pulled Michael's head towards its teeth.

"No!" Linn screamed as she leapt forward grabbing Michael's right foot with one hand and the side of the laboratory doorway with the other. For over twenty seconds Linn's strength held out and the infuriated creature's drool splattered on the floor five feet away from Michael's head. "Michael…wake up…please wake up!"

The long tongued creature pulled Michael's head another two feet closer to its anxious wincing jaws breaking Linn's firm grasp on the doorway reducing it to a feeble trembling cling. Water began to fall from the frantic woman's eyes as her fingers began to slide along the doorway wall. Large patches of blood shined from underneath her soft girlish flesh in the bright light of the hallway as pain and stress overtook Linn's arm.

She could feel her grip loosening and could tell that Michael was only a few seconds away from being ripped apart by the monster hovering over him. "Please…" Every ounce of feeling left Linn's hand as her strength gave way and her nerves temporarily shut down. "No!!!"

One split second before Michael's body launched forward, a tiny piece of scorching led metal sliced through the creature's tongue launching blood and the monster itself back into the silver wall behind it. Michael's body hit the floor with a gentle thud as the dying flesh around his face loosened, pulsed, and flapped with a vain attempt at holding onto life. Dazed and disoriented from the abrupt loss of energy, Linn barely felt her tumble to the floor and was unaware of the loud boom that echoed throughout the hallway before the monster's tongue was severed. Another loud bang rang in the young woman's ears and this time she recognized the sound of bullets leaving a small nine-millimeter handgun and their casings rattling on the floor. Her gaze slowly rose to the creature, which only a few seconds ago ruled the core of her life. Now, the creature screeched and convulsed on the floor as its blood sprayed out in every direction from exploding gunshot wounds that were quickly overtaking its body. A steady pace of human footsteps echoed just under the dying monster's screams inside the hallway. A tall well built young man came into Linn's field of vision. Blue jeans and a white T-shirt covered the young teenager and his arms were outstretched, both of his hands clasped tightly around a berretta nine-millimeter.

Thomas's head turned to the right and for a few seconds, Linn and Michael filled his vision. Relief brought a small grin to the man's lips. "Good evening." Another screech from the long tongued monster returned Thomas's attention to the beast, after ripping open another three holes in the creature's weak flesh with the handgun; his hands finally began to lower. The monster squirmed and twitched on its back as a pool of blood spread out around it. Thomas allowed his adrenaline rush to fade and his anxiety to subside as he wiped the renewed perspiration from his forehead.

Too preoccupied with Michael's wellbeing, Linn didn't notice Thomas walking over to her. She quickly unraveled the dead rope of flesh from the unconscious man's face then gently laid his head down onto the floor. A sigh of relief left Linn's lungs as she felt breathing and a heartbeat generating from Michael's body. A quick glance beneath his hair revealed no blood or any severe damage.

Thomas knelt down beside Michael and briefly looked him over, noticing the gun tucked under the front of his pants. "He got distracted?"

Finally realizing there was someone other than Michael and herself alive in the hallway, Linn gazed up and gasped as she didn't notice Thomas had gotten so close. "Oh…no. Well…I don't know. We heard this strange hissing in the other room and before we could tell where it was coming from this freaky tongue thing wrapped around Michael's head and pulled him through the ceiling."

"So he's unconscious because it strangled him?" Thomas wondered.

Linn shook her head and grunted a negative response. "Take a look at the roof of that lab, when I said he was pulled through the ceiling I wasn't exaggerating."

Thomas followed Linn's thumb and spotted the large hole in the ceiling. "Ouch."

A painful groan flowed from Michael's throat followed by a few coughs as the disoriented teen sat up while rubbing his sore head. "Fucking freaked out piece of shit thing, lickin' me like I was its pimp."

Thomas glanced at the twitching heap of dead flesh at the end of the laboratory hallway then returned his stare to Linn and Michael. "What?"

Linn smiled, almost giggling. "Don't mind him; he just has a very carefree outlook on life."

"Carefree huh?" Thomas held back a smirk.

Linn nodded as her girlish warmth returned to her demeanor. "Yeah, carefree as in he doesn't care how indecent or obscene some of the things he says might be to other people."

"Teenager's prerogative." Thomas stated.

"Yep yep." Linn agreed.

Michael switched his stare from Thomas to Linn a few times before letting his hand fall to his side. "Yeah yeah, fuck fuckidy fuck fuck fuck let's get the hell out of here."

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Brownish green rotting flesh combined with dying aloe cracked as the fang filled mouth of a mutated plant bud screeched while in close pursuit of the live flesh in front of it. The plant monster behind it grew angry with not being able to close any distance on its prey and using its heightened intelligence, roared as its ten inch wide cylinder shaped tongue lashed out towards a lamppost and wrapped tightly around it. One second later the plant creature launched itself high into the air and shot through the mist filled night towards a panicked blonde haired man.

Richard's head turned at the sound of the monster's screech and the sight of the beast soaring through the air widened the man's eyes with shock. "Jesus Christ!!!"

Somehow, the five adult survivors had managed to escape the giant vines living throughout the complex airport and became lost in a sea of tall two story homes with undead residents. Richard stumbled to the side into a few plastic trashcans just barely escaping the plant creature's clawed feet then used all of his strength and willpower to stay on his own two feet.

Frank glanced at what had taken place behind him then turned his stare to the mercenary in front of him. "You didn't tell us they could do that!"

Mark frowned as he stared back at Frank. "I didn't _know_ they could do that!!" A small crowd of undead citizens wandered around the street a few yards ahead of the group. Mark knew that if they were forced into the viral gauntlet with the plant creatures behind them that someone would be unwillingly torn from the group of humans. "I've had enough of this shit…" He pulled a black grenade with a silver pin from his belt with his right hand and ripped the pin loose with his left. "Fan out!" He shouted as the grenade left his hand and hovered into the mouth of the closest plant monster.

The group of survivors broke to the left and right, diving over fences and mailboxes into the front lawns of the now ownerless homes. The following explosion kept their heads buried in the artificial grass for over a minute as several different rotten plant limbs and fluids rained down from the sky.

Mark slowly rolled onto his back and took a deep breath. His eyes slowly opened to a thick mist of smoke and fog. A sigh of relief left him and the mercenary was allowed a brief moment of peace before a human silhouette darkened by the mist filled Mark's vision. One of his fellow survivors entered his mind and from the shape of the silhouette Mark knew it could only be Frank or Richard approaching him. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting Umbrella employee the figure belonged to neither Frank nor Richard. Instead, as the mist parted, two rotting undead hands reached out for the live pale flesh covered in black.

Shock widened Mark's eyes as his military training had his handgun centered on the undead man's forehead in less than two seconds. "Fuck!!" A ferocious bang followed Mark's screams and a led bullet ripped a hole through the zombie's skull. Mark quickly rose to his feet while trying to reduce the violence of his coughing. "Lisa! …Richard! Damnit I'll even take a reply from…Frank!"

"Mark!" Lisa cried out from beneath the cloud of mist. "I…I can't see anything!"

"Just stay there." Mark ordered. "I'll be there in a sec." He cautiously followed Lisa's voice through the smog with his arms extended and his hands clasped tightly around his handgun. Constant clicks and shuffling combined with low groaning flowed in and out of Mark's ears as he slowly made his way across the street. Another dark silhouette appeared out of the shadows and Mark readied his handgun then gasped as he almost put a bullet in the center of Lisa's forehead. Mark let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "I told you to stay put."

Lisa's gaze lowered to the ground as she shook her head. "I'm sorry I…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Lisa was knocked to the ground by her own fear as a surviving plant bud leaped through the mist. Mark's head turned as fear exploded onto his face. His arms began to move the handgun in the monster's direction. The beast slammed into the mercenary forcing him to fire a stray bullet into the mist before he stumbled to the ground. The taste of blood and live flesh between its fangs excited the plant creature so much that it did not notice the other human towering over it with the fallen mercenary's handgun. The loud bang from the nine-millimeter drowned out Mark's agonized screams for a few seconds. The creature screeched as it jumped back disappearing into the thick mist.

"God damnit!" Mark screamed as he held his arm trying his best to keep himself from hyperventilating.

Frank kept a firm grip on the handgun as he scanned the streets, which were finally coming into view as the still winds began to stir. "Get up that thing's not dead yet!"

Mark managed to rise back onto his feet but hunched over holding his forearm close to his chest. "No…_really?_"

Frank ignored the mercenary's sarcasm as he sidestepped towards Lisa. "You alright?" He asked after stopping next to her.

Lisa nodded a yes then stood to her feet never taking her eyes off of Mark. As a low growl from the prowling plant monster entered her ears the wellbeing of the other woman of the group suddenly entered her mind. A short gasp escaped the bewildered woman as her gaze turned in the opposite direction of the plant creature. "Cynthia!"

The plant bud leapt out from the mist towards Mark wanting another taste of his flesh. Six bullet holes ripped open along the side of the monster's body weakening the beast, allowing the mercenary to launch it into a blood stained picket fence with a firm roundhouse kick. Mark yelped from the pain in his torn arm as his body twirled to complete his attack then stumbled back catching himself only a second before he fell. Frank centered the barrel of Mark's gun on the plant bud and pulled the trigger then winced at the sound of the weapon clicking. A quick glance revealed the empty chamber and Frank's fear nearly caused him to drop the gun and run. Mark pulled a second handgun from his coat and emptied its clip into the plant bud causing the creature to fall limp onto the ground and twitch in a pool of green fluids.

The mercenary gazed down at his torn jacket and wounded forearm. The bright red glow of his torn flesh had already begun to take on an unnatural yellowish color. "Great…just great…that's just fucking great!"

Cynthia and Richard slowly made their way over to the group and stopped next to Lisa, who then walked over to Mark.

The frightened woman made no attempt to hide her concern. "Mark…"

The mercenary chuckled as he let his arm fall to his side. "Don't. Pity is the last thing I need right now."

Lisa took another step towards Mark. She glanced at the ground then gently patted Mark's chest with her hands. "Well…how about some affection?"

Too much pain surged through Mark for him to control the confusion that overtook his face. "Hey what's with you anyway?"

Cynthia glanced up at the two and shook her head with an annoyed expression covering her face. "Your guess is as good as mine. I thought I knew her seeing as how she's my sister and all. Never seen her fall for the macho head types."

Lisa flinched as her cheeks began to glow red. "What? I haven't fallen for anyone I just…"

Mark fought past his pain to discredit Cynthia's analogy of his personality. "Hey I'm _not_ a macho head."

Richard scoffed at the useless conversation passing between the group of survivors as his concern for his own life began to take hold. "Yeah, that's real interesting, but if you all hadn't noticed…we're lost in a zombie infested town!"

Mark ignored Richard's shouts as his gaze wandered around the town. He was too preoccupied with Cynthia's comment to notice his current situation. "All I did was give a few orders."

Frank took a few steps towards Cynthia who had turned her attention to Richard. "Well it's better than being trapped in a giant plant infested airport."

"I was trained to take the initiative in hostile situations!" Mark protested.

"I guess you're right, it shouldn't be that hard to find our way around in this place." Cynthia pointed out.

"All right let's try and find a map or phone or something." Richard suggested.

The three walked away leaving Mark and Lisa behind.

"Just because I know how to use a lot of weapons doesn't mean I'm a meat head. So I use a lot of big guns, so what?" Mark rambled on.

Lisa stared up at the mercenary and found herself smiling at Mark's awkward demeanor. "Mark…"

For some reason, Lisa's voice broke through Mark's rambling state and brought him back to the land of living, surrounded by the land of the dead. He glanced down at his wound one last time before centering his eyes on Lisa's eyes. "Don't get too affectionate. No point in falling for a dead man."

Lisa lowered her gaze from Mark's for a moment. Then, as all of her emotional barriers faded, she gazed up into his eyes once more. "You know there's still a chance we can save you."

Mark chuckled while rubbing the back of his head. "Thought I was supposed to be saving you."

Lisa smiled and giggled as her eyes closed. "We can take turns."

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Three different sets of footsteps echoed down a dimly lit hallway inside the abandoned factory. A feint groan flowed through the air every few seconds. Thomas, Michael, and Linn wandered down a musty hallway in search of anything that could lead to their quick and painless escape from the island. Linn stared curiously at the backs of the two teenage men that saved her life.

"So um…who are you anyway?" Linn asked while staring at Thomas.

Michael glanced at Thomas waiting for him to answer. "Hey, the lady asked you a question."

Thomas shrugged nonchalantly. "Am I supposed to care about what some dimwit asks me?"

Linn's left eye twitched at Thomas's remark. "Dimwit!? Who the hell are you calling a dimwit!?"

Thomas smirked and closed his eyes while he let his hands rest behind his head. "You see? She's a dimwit."

Michael shrugged. "Can't argue with you there."

Shock spread across Linn's face, shock that quickly warped into a frown as the infuriated teenager growled.

Michael stared back at Linn in bewilderment. "Whoa…do that again."

"Huh? Why?" Linn's anger changed to adorable curiosity.

"Because it was sexy." Michael replied.

Once again, blood made Linn's cheeks glow a bright red and she turned her head staring through the windows of one of the many rooms the teens walked past.

Thomas laughed as he watched the two. "What a cute couple."

"What!?" Linn's shock heightened her adorableness.

Michael smirked then put his arm around Linn. "Cute? Nah…We're more of a freakish buck wild couple. Hell…just before that _Licker_ thing attacked us we were about to…"

Linn put her hand over Michael's mouth before he could finish his sentence. "Don't lie! We weren't about to do anything!"

Michael pulled Linn's hand down to his chest. "I know that. We were about to fuck. Fucking isn't just anything, fucking is the symbol of a freakish buck wild relationship." His stare turned to Thomas. "So what's your name anyway?"

"Thomas." Thomas replied.

"Hmm." Michael thought for a moment. "That's my brother's name."

Linn turned to Michael as surprise overtook her expression. "I didn't know you had a brother."

"That's because I didn't tell you." He pulled her closer to him. "Now…about that freakish buck wild relationship."

Linn gasped and turned her face away from the two men who both laughed at her. "You two are…"

"Shh." Michael and Thomas both ordered.

Linn froze and turned around trying her best to listen for anything unusual. Loud shuffled footsteps followed by loud groaning flowed into her ears and as she gazed down the hall behind her a crowd of undead Umbrella employees filled her vision. Thomas and Michael both took a step back from the army of undead humans.

"Ok they have got to be able to smell us or something." Michael suggested.

Linn sniffed her arm for a moment, only noticing her own unique scent overlapped with sweat and dirt from the prison. "I don't smell anything…and I'm not wearing any perfume."

Thomas smacked his own forehead, too annoyed to say anything.

Michael sighed then stared over at Linn. "I meant they can smell us because we're alive." He walked over to her and sniffed her neck. "But are you sure you aren't wearing any perfume…because you smell _good._"

Thomas turned his stare from Linn to the zombies running towards him. "Yeah…uh…I don't think we have enough bullets for all of them and…what the hell? They're running!"

Michael turned facing the zombies. "Yeah…a virus caused all of this right? Maybe it has different stages or something?"

"Whatever." Thomas concluded. "We have to get the hell…" He turned to his left and noticed Michael and Linn were gone. A quick glance behind him revealed the two teenagers dashing down the hallway.

Michael looked back and noticed Thomas standing still. "Thomas…dawg…you comin' or what!?"

Thomas started running after them then stopped. "Dawg? What's up with that dude?" He decided to find out later and kept running.

Black plastic letters glued onto stainless steel doors shot past the views of the three unnerved teenagers as they ran at top speed down one of the many halls of the factory. A few yards behind them forty undead factory employees ran twice as fast as the panicked humans reaching out for their warm live flesh. Thomas glanced to the left and right begging the factory to yield a room without any windows but none presented themselves.

Michael stared up at the roof then at the right turn at the end of the hall. "I don't like where this is going."

Linn glanced at Michael. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know I just got a bad feeling about this hallway." Michael replied.

As the three teenagers turned the corner and entered the second half of the hallway they all paused, Linn nearly stumbling to the floor.

"Holy shit!" Thomas shouted.

Michael stared at the solid wall with no visible doors or windows at the end of the hall. "Right…"

Linn turned around at the sound of the zombies' groans. "Wha…wha…what are we gonna do!?"

Thomas glanced up at the ceiling and spotted a square vent. "Vent."

"But we don't have anything to open it with!" Linn screamed.

Michael pulled his gun from his pants while walking towards the vent. The dark weapon rose into the air and two loud bangs later, blasted the thin metal from the steel ceiling. His lips formed a sly grin as he held up the escape route with his right hand while staring at Linn. "Ladies first."

Uncertain about traveling through another dark ventilation tunnel, Linn glanced around at the lab doors on either side of the hall. "No way! Do you remember what happened the last time we stood under a vent!? What if another one of those things is in there! Let's just hide in one of these rooms!"

Michael walked over to the large rectangular window on the left side of the hallway. He took in a deep breath then pulled his hand back. Two seconds later his closed fist smashed through the glass. Slowly, his serious gaze focused on Linn. "If I can do that just imagine what all those muck mouthed bastards are gonna do when they get here."

Linn nodded to Michael then quickly ran under the vent. Michael clasped his hands together and Linn stepped onto his hands then grabbed onto vent edge as Michael lifted her into the air. Thomas climbed into the vent next then held his hand out for Michael to grab on. As Michael reached out his hand suddenly flew back and an agonized gasp escaped him.

Linn's eyes widened as she watched an undead woman tackle Michael to the floor. "Michael!"

"Get off me! Get off me!" Michael shouted while ramming his fist into the side of the senseless woman's head. "I'm not into Goth chicks aight!? Get the fuck off me!" Although the woman's bones were almost as meshed as her skin, her strength seemed to increase by the second and Michael knew that he would have to risk letting go of his attacker to pull his gun. Michael raised the zombie woman into the air with his knees and in the split second of safety presented to him, grabbed the gun from the back of his pants. "Suck on this…" A ferocious growl escaped the woman just before Michael jammed his gun into her mouth. Blood and brain fragments splattered onto the floor and both sides of the hallway. Michael rose to his feet and took one last glance at the lifeless corpse at his feet. "Bitch…"

A horrid ambience of growls and groans pulled Michael's stare to the group of zombies that had crowded into the small hallway. His gaze rose to Thomas and Linn inside the tunnel then back down to the monsters blocking it. His gun rose and Michael walked towards the group of the undead bringing several of them to the ground with a well-placed head shot. A safe passage under the vent had been cleared and Thomas reached down towards Michael's hand, grabbing it tightly.

"Come on man!" Thomas struggled, pulling Michael up.

Linn almost let relief wash over her wracked senses but a loud agonized scream from Michael almost stopped her heart from shock. One of the more determined undead workers latched onto Michael's right leg and buried his teeth into the calf. Five more sets of hands pulled the unwilling meal from Thomas's hand down to the floor where the rest of the zombies all pilled on top of the unfortunate teen.

"No…No!" Linn shouted through her tears.

Thomas turned his head unable to watch the blood splattering onto the walls. Michael's screams were so loud that Thomas almost didn't notice Linn pulling herself out of the vent. "What the…are you crazy!?"

Linn struggled trying to free herself from Thomas's grip. She couldn't understand why she was fighting him. Thomas didn't even exist in the world her mind had unwillingly been sent to. Only Michael's insane screams and the inhuman sound of his flesh being stripped from his body by human teeth flowed in and out of her ears. Linn landed one lucky kick on Thomas's face freeing her from his grasp then quickly pulled herself out of the vent. Thomas watched Linn fall to the floor and stared at her for a handful of moments, his face warped with grief and confusion.

Michael's insults had already faded and were replaced with gurgled groans by the time Linn had stood to her feet in front of the crowd of undead cannibals. Linn spun around searching for anything she could use as a weapon. The large sparkling glass shards spread around the floor filled her vision first. Another two seconds of scanning revealed Michael's handgun sitting two feet from the group of zombies. The sight of the gun reminded Linn of her own gun pressing against her back underneath her tight black jeans. She frantically pulled the gun from her jeans then grabbed the dark weapon from the floor and stood tall over the monster horde.

A second of forced hesitation unleashed a flare of anger Linn was unaware she was capable of feeling. "Get away from him!!" A flurry of bullets ripped open several holes throughout the rotten flesh causing many of the live corpses to topple over onto their backs and twitch on the floor. One gun rattled on the floor and the other was stuffed into the back of Linn's jeans. The determined girl ignored the searing pain from the heated gun barrel and ran over to Michael who was now visible under a hungry young undead female. She grabbed the woman's back and pulled with all of her strength but only managed to remove the zombie's teeth from Michael's chest. Shocked from how useless her own physical strength was against the mutated corpses, Linn could barely react to the hands wrapping around her arms.

"Oh god no!" Linn's scream echoed down the hallway as she was pulled to the floor beside Michael.

Michael stared out into the darkness surrounding him. His strength had left him and a blanket of drowsy disorientation settled over his mind. He felt his life slowly slipping away from the massive amount of blood leaking from his wounds. Through all of this he could somehow hear Linn's voice. Her words were unrecognizable but she was frightened or in pain. Michael was no longer in touch with what was going on in reality but Linn was in danger and that simple fact brought the young warrior back to the land of the living.

Michael's eyes shot open and Linn filled his vision. Immediately after seeing the zombie's teeth less than an inch away from Linn's throat, Michael grabbed the undead man by the mouth and threw him back into the wall. Too concerned with Linn's safety, Michael didn't notice how easy it was for him to knock each and every zombie near Linn and himself back. Dazed, he stumbled back and grabbed the gun from the floor. A quick thud echoed through the hall as Michael's back hit the wall. Four zombies hit the floor with bullet wounds decorating their heads. A loud click signified that the gun was now useless. Michael let the dark weapon fall into his black jeans then stepped over to Linn who had been rendered unconscious from overwhelmed shock. His hands slid underneath her and he gently lifted her into his arms. Several zombies still wandered around the hall towards Michael. The decay in their flesh seemed to be halting and their reflexes ever increasing. Michael kicked open a door to an office with a large square shaped window then slammed it shut with his left foot. The undead workers crowded around the window sliding their hands against it as if it weren't there. Michael laid Linn down near the back of the small office room he entered then used the last of his fading strength to position a heavy bookcase in front of the window.

Michael's gaze slowly lowered to the beautiful helpless girl at his feet. "You…idiot."


	4. Survivor Gathering

**Chapter Four: Survivor Gathering**

_Alone again…_ Thomas thought to himself as he crawled his way down the ventilation shaft. A low hiss brought his steady crawl to an abrupt halt, freezing him to the tunnel floor.

**Flashback**

Linn gazed up and gasped as she didn't notice Thomas had gotten so close. "Oh…no. Well…I don't know. We heard this strange hissing in the other room and before we could tell where it was coming from this freaky tongue thing wrapped around Michael's head and pulled him through the ceiling."

**End Flashback**

Trembling with fear, Thomas turned his head at the sound of the licker and the dark human form sat motionless seven feet behind him. Thomas remained still, unable to think or react and the licker did the same, breathing in the human fear swirling around it. Suddenly, Thomas's hand began to hover down from in front of him to the handgun positioned under his pants. This sudden movement set the licker's killer reflexes into action and Thomas abandoned his grab for the gun and frantically clawed himself forward down the ventilation shaft. Hundreds of scratches and clicks echoed behind Thomas as the licker had no trouble slithering through the tunnel twice as fast as it's horrified prey. Thomas let out a terrified yelp as he felt the iron grip of the licker wrap around his left ankle and his head hit the shaft ceiling as he struggled to free himself.

Realizing he wasn't going anywhere until the creature's grip loosened, Thomas grabbed his gun as the licker pulled him closer to its teeth. "Get off!" Two loud bangs echoed throughout the shaft. "Get _off_!" Another two bullets loosened the monster's grip. "Get the _fuck…_off!" The licker's hand widened and twitched in motion with the rest of its body while Thomas crawled down the shaft with every ounce of strength he had left.

Swirling wind and a silent thud echoed from underneath Thomas's feet as he landed inside a darkened laboratory. His eyes scanned the room just above the barrel of his handgun while his legs slowly moved forward. Three loud squeaks pulled his gaze to the left back end of the room and his gun centered on a large plastic cage. Thomas cautiously approached the cage keeping his handgun trained on whatever it was moving around inside. When the fluffy white form pulsing inside the cage finally took shape Thomas sighed and lowered his gun. Two small rabbits were nestled together inside the cage. Thomas hunched over, lowering his face closer to the clear plastic wall to get a better view of the small creatures. One of the rabbits vibrated with life while the other remained still, almost lifeless. As Thomas took a step to the left a spark of confusion flared up in his mind when he saw that the active rabbit harbored two ruby red eyes. Farther to the left the still rabbit harbored a large bloody hole on the right side of its body. The red eyed rabbit's head twitched up in Thomas's direction and a set of sharp bloody fangs flashed in front of him.

Thomas stumbled back trying his best to keep his handgun trained on the undead bunny. "Wha what, what the hell man!" His back hit a dresser, keeping him on his feet. "Freaking crazy ass people making weird shit in this smelly ass factory!"

A dirt and blood stained lab coat fluttered as an undead male scientist rose from the floor beside the dresser Thomas stumbled into. The zombie caught the horrified teen off guard grabbing the top of his shoulders with both hands. Frantic grunts combined with one loud scream erupted from Thomas's throat as he wrestled against the zombie's grasp. The two men spun and now the zombie's back pressed hard against the desk. Thomas slowly managed to position the barrel of his gun under the zombie's chin but unfortunately just before he pulled the trigger another undead male scientist wrapped his arms around the teenager's neck. A split second before the zombie behind Thomas sunk its teeth into the back of his neck, the adrenaline charged teen dropped to the floor pulling the zombie in front of him into the attacker behind him. The second zombie to rise in the laboratory ripped through the first and the two undead scientists tackled each other to the floor taking in large mouthfuls of dead flesh.

As Thomas backed away towards the exit, he took one last look at the two undead men rolling around on the laboratory floor. "That is so...gay…"

* * *

Disoriented human senses slowly began regaining life. A foul musty odor flowed in and out of a near unconscious young female's lungs. The girl's face squinted in distaste with the stench and her body rolled to the side as her hand covered her nose. Shock warped the girl's slow heartbeat into an adrenaline pumped machine as horrifying images of undead humans flashed on and off inside her mind. She rolled back onto her back while a large rusty factory towered over her. A white flash replaced the outside world with a dimly lit silver painted hallway. Two men flashed into view next, one brown haired Caucasian man covered in blue jeans and a white T-shirt. The other, an African American man dressed in black baggy jeans, a white T-shirt, and an orange and blue designer jacket. Another flash and the girl found herself staring down at the brown skinned man as a group of zombies tackled him to the floor.

One last flash pulled the girl's eyes open and the top half of her body shot up into the air. "Michael!" The girl shouted. She rubbed her eyes trying to force her vision back into focus. "Michael!"

The young wounded man from the girl's vision sat silent and still against the back wall of the small office room. "What…?"

Linn turned around while sitting and as her vision finally refocused her lips formed a wide smile. "Michael…you're ok!"

Michael only laughed at the comment as Linn crawled over to him. As Linn moved closer to Michael, the darkness around him thinned and vanished, allowing the dim lights built into the ceiling to illuminate his weakened form. Despair made an attempt to surface around Linn's heart as her eyes scanned his wounds but the young girl wouldn't allow it. Her back pressed against the wall and she sat down next to Michael.

"What…what happened out there?" Linn asked.

"I died." Michael replied.

Linn unexpectedly found herself suppressing a stream of tears. "No you didn't…" Before Michael could respond, Linn wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. "No you didn't…!"

Confusion swirled around Michael's brain. Confusion as to why Linn was hugging him and confusion as to why he felt no pain as the girl's arms rubbed against his wounds. _Wasn't I in excruciating pain five seconds ago? What the hell is this? She's so warm…_

Linn sniffled then raised her gaze to Michael's eyes and tried her best to comfort him with a warm smile. "So…how did you get us in here? The last thing I remember…we were both on our backs with about ten zombies on top of us."

Michael hadn't thought about it until that moment. "I…I don't know. I just pushed and punched and they fell down."

"You must work out a lot. I don't know anyone that can fight off that many people. Especially while they're wounded."

"I've never been in a gym in my entire life. I've always been strong. I don't know why." Michael slowly wrapped his arm around Linn and gently caressed her back.

Linn lowered her right hand and gently rubbed Michael's stomach. _Oh no…too affectionate._

"So you pick _now_ to get all girlish and sexual with me?" Michael asked while resting his head on Linn's head.

"Is sex all you think about?" Linn replied.

"No. Just twenty-three hours a day." Michael chuckled.

Linn giggled. "What about the last hour?"

"Video games."

"So um…why did you do it?"

"Do what?" Michael wondered.

"Save me all those times."

Michael leaned back letting his head press against the wall. "No big thang. I just figure warm softness shouldn't be ripped up by old rotting teeth."

Another giggle escaped Linn. "Soft? I'm soft?"

Michael smirked and took Linn's hand in his left hand then pressed it against the right side of her stomach. "See? Softness like that should not be ripped apart."

Linn's lips formed another adorable smile as she gently pressed her body against Michael and closed her eyes. Michael brushed a few strands of Linn's brown hair away from her eyes then wrapped his arms around her. _What the fuck are you doing!_ A voice inside Michael's head screamed. _You're gonna be walkin' around this place with the rest of those dead heads because of her. Why the hell are you cuddling with her?_ Michael hesitated for a moment. _Why _**am**_** I cuddling with her? **_Before Michael could answer himself, the feel of Linn's soft warm body pressing against him forced him to give into the exhaustion pulsating through him.

* * *

Long black hair swayed around two small shoulders covered by a white lab coat. A young petite and slender woman wandered aimlessly down one of the many silver colored factory hallways. As her head passed by an unusually clean and unstained door, a golden bullet ripped open her skull, splattering skull fragments, blood, and brains against the wall beside it.

Thomas lowered his handgun then stepped in front of the door. "What do we have here?" The silver door seemed sturdier than any other Thomas had seen throughout the entire complex. Near the top of the door plastic letters spelt out the name Dr. Bernard Thompson. Several moments of hesitation kept Thomas motionless in the hall until he finally decided on what to do next. "Well…I got nothin' better to do."

The scent that seeped out as the lab door opened wasn't pleasant, but it was a lot more bearable than the odor filling the rest of the factory. This stench generated from bubbling chemicals inside several beakers and test tubes. Thomas shut the door behind him then stepped into the laboratory scanning the small room for anything of interest. Two small cans sparkling in the bright light of the lab caught the teen's attention. He walked over to the back left end of the lab and picked up one of the cans. An extensive examination of the can pulled a recent television commercial from Thomas's memory.

**Flashback**

A small boy ran down a lightly populated street with a wide smile on his face. Suddenly the boy fell knee first onto the ground then sat there with tears building behind his eyes. His screams brought a woman no older than forty into the scene and she knelt down beside the boy holding him close.

"Oh don't cry, we'll get that cut cleaned up." The woman assured the boy.

"But mommy, I hate Band-Aids! They're so annoying and it always hurts when I have to take them off." The boy protested.

The woman chuckled then hugged the boy. "Don't worry, Billy. Thanks to Umbrella, you'll never have to use another Band-Aid again." After the woman finished her sentence the scene switched to the inside of a large suburban home. The woman turned to the boy holding a small beige can with a green label.

"What's that mom?" The boy wondered.

"Why, the answer to your prayers Billy." The woman replied with a warm smile.

The scene switched again and this time the mother held the top of the can over the boy's wound and sprayed a clear substance from the muzzle. The contents of the can foamed around the cut, forming a neat airtight casing over the wound.

"There, all better." The mother said warmly.

"Wow thanks mom! I didn't feel a thing!" Billy shouted.

A voice over advertisement took over the rest of the commercial as many different children and adults with small cuts were flashed onto the screen. "Have you ever gotten hurt on the job? Accidents do happen. Or maybe your son or daughter hurt themselves playing outside. Kids will be kids. If you're answer's yes then I'm sure you've done it all. The disinfectants, the Band-Aids, and all the different healing creams. Now, we at Umbrella incorporated aren't saying these products are useless. We're just saying that maybe…it's time to take basic first aid into the twenty-first century. First Aid Spray can replace any and all other basic healing products because of one simple fact. It _is_ all of the basic healing products. First Aid Spray has the most potent disinfectant known to man. Our unique formula allows the medicine to incase itself around any wound, skipping the scabbing process and protecting it from any outside bacteria."

A tall well dressed man stepped out in front of the flashing scenes of families and workers then put his back to them while clasping his hands together. "We at the Umbrella Corporation not only believe in healing the wounded and helping the sick." The man's face covered the scenes for a brief moment. "We believe in making the entire healing process as quick and convenient as possible." The camera shot returned to normal. "Because here at the Umbrella Corporation, our business…is life itself."

**End Flashback.**

Thomas thought about pocketing the medical cans but his blue jean pockets were too small. The large oversized back pockets of Michael's black baggy jeans entered Thomas's mind for a brief moment before he spotted a small greenish knapsack resting on a desk five feet from the counter. Thomas quickly bagged the two First Aid Spray cans then started searching the room for anything else he could use. Another sparkling object caught his attention. Stacked neatly inside of a plastic cover binder entitled: Bio Soldier Experiment; several dated papers sat undisturbed under the laboratory lights. Reading was the last thing Thomas felt like doing considering everything he had been through in the past few hours. However, something about the sheer improbability that he would find anyplace untouched by the death and destruction of the complex that harbored a file with that specific title, beckoned him to open the reading material.

**File**

**September 4th, 1983**

**Super Soldier experiment 101:** I have tried and tried over and over to create the perfect formula that will enhance the body's physical attributes each test resulting worse than the last. I fear that my employers have grown rather impatient with my lack of progress. They do not realize that what they ask for is impossible. I have wondered since my first failure why they have kept me alive. They don't show any mercy to failures in this company except to me.

**May 20th, 1985**

**Super Soldier experiment 120:** Nineteen more failures and not one ounce of progress, however, I have discovered the reason why I haven't been fired/executed yet, all of my failures they told me were disposed of were really caged and experimented on by other scientists. I know not what use they could possibly have for those monstrosities and I don't bother myself with wondering. No, I am only concerned about _my_ research. This is hopeless; I inject the formula given to me, what was it called again? The Tyrant-Virus. They tell me it will make normal humans, animals, bugs, even plants stronger, more reflexive, and it will heighten their senses. That's a load of hogwash if you ask me. This virus has done nothing but mutate things into bloodthirsty monsters. I suppose that was their intentional plan from the start, or maybe it wasn't. Maybe they really are expecting me to come up with a way to prevent the mutation, to stop their need…to feed.

**End file**

"Uh huh…" Thomas stuffed the binder into his knapsack. "One weird psycho after the next."

* * *

Michael slowly opened his eyes at the sound of a subtle groan. As his vision focused, two milky white soulless eyes stared viciously into Michael's sharp caramel eyes. The young man found no strength in his body to power any form of a reaction. Oddly however, the only thing that entered his mind was Linn's safety but for some reason he could no longer feel her soft warm form resting against him. Before Michael could think of anything else the undead man in front of him growled then lunged forward taking a ferocious bite out of Michael's face.

Again Michael's eyes opened. However, this time they shot open and his head turned from the left to right while his vision refocused to the dim light of the small office room. An annoyed sigh of relief escaped the teenage warrior before he finally glanced down and saw Linn, resting peacefully against him. His arms wrapped around her and held her tightly against him while his hands gently caressed her back. Linn smiled and moaned softly, obviously having better dreams than the man beneath her. Michael's right hand rose to Linn's hair and slowly stroked it away from her closed eyes. _What the hell is this feeling? It's weird…is it the virus? No…it feels…good._ A loud bang interrupted Michael's train of thought.

"What the…" Michael scanned the room and several shards of broken glass sparkling beneath a rocking bookcase filled his vision. "Ah shit…" His hands slid up Linn's back then rested on her shoulders. "Linn." He gently shook her. "Linn, yo." He stopped shaking her after another moan escaped her. "Wake up."

"Hmm? What is it?" Linn asked, dazed.

"Linn, the one guest that _anyone_ would prefer a Jehovah's witness over is about to bust in on us." Michael pointed towards the rocking bookcase.

Adrenaline gave Linn's senses a jump-start and the now terrified young woman sprung to her feet. "Ok…ok…wha, wha, wha, wha, wha, wha, what do we do?"

Michael slowly rose to his feet with a pain filled groan then took in a view of the entire office. "No idea."

Linn stared at Michael with confusion covering her face. "No idea? No idea! You never have _no idea_! Even when you have _no idea_ you have some rude or perverted idea to cover up for the idea you don't but will eventually have!"

Michael took in a breath then nodded while staring at the floor. His gaze shot back up to Linn's stare. "What?"

Linn started hyperventilating while backing herself into the right wall of the office. "Oh my god…" She hiccuped in between her frantic rambling. "Oh my god…" "Oh my god…"

Michael walked over to her then closed her mouth by pushing up her chin with his right hand. Linn's entire body flinched as she hiccuped with her mouth closed and stared at Michael, wide eyed. "It took being eaten alive by a group of undead cannibals for me to finally feel something in my life other than anger and annoyance."

"The zombies made you feel something other than anger and annoyance…?" Linn hiccuped.

"No." Michael chuckled. His thumb pointed to the thin metal plating near the center of the ceiling. "Vent."

"Oh no…not another vent." Linn groaned and hiccuped. "We've had nothing but bad luck with those things."

"Hey, this hellhole in ruled by the undead, anything alive here should be considered alien." Michael pulled his gun from his pants.

"…?" Linn's hiccups continued.

"Just think of it this way, we're the aliens, the deadly bad ass creatures that crawl through vents lookin' for someone to fuck wit." The vent hit the floor after three gunshots from Michael's berreta.

"Ok I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about being compared to one of those nasty things. Plus I _don't _go around _looking_ for _anyone_ to…fuck." Linn said, not noticing her hiccups were gone.

"Fuck has more meanings than god in the ghetto but don't let that fact stop you from thinking about sex all the time. The hornier you get the better my chances are of…" Michael glanced down at his wounds, "nevermind…"

Sympathy spread across Linn's face as she took a step towards Michael just before the bookcase slammed onto the ground, crushing the glass beneath it. Linn screamed at the sight of four zombie scientists piling into the office.

Michael jumped onto the bookcase then turned to Linn. "Come on!"

Linn quickly climbed into the vent with Michael's help then waited impatiently for him to climb up. Michael glanced up at the vent then to the left as a zombie rose to its feet beside him. After taking three steps back Michael steadied himself on top of the bookcase then ran towards the undead woman and leapt into the air. His right foot pressed firmly against her chest then launched the teenager back while he spun towards the vent. Linn sighed in relief after Michael pulled himself up into the shaft.

This vent shaft was the same as the last two Linn had crawled through and she began longing for the world outside of the lifeless factory even though undead creatures ruled the complex. Michael, however, had never consciously traversed the shaft and was pleased with his current view.

"Did I ever tell you, you got a nice lookin' ass?" The young man smirked.

"No. No you didn't." Linn giggled.

"Well you got a _very_ nice lookin' ass." Michael crawled a bit faster to get a better view. "Feel free to stop suddenly at anytime."

Although at that moment Linn had made a mental note not to stop and to give a loud and clear warning if she had to, the highly unexpected sight of another human being shocked her to an abrupt halt. To Michael's delight his face gently crashed into Linn's rear end.

Another young man with short brown hair crept cautiously down one of the many hallways of the factory. Dirt and grime streaked down his dark blue vest that covered a dark blue T-shirt. Blood and black dirt stained his dark blue jeans and worn out sky blue sneakers. His eyes shot up to the hallway ceiling at the sound of a female voice.

"Michael! You did that on purpose!" Linn giggled again.

"Whoa…" The young man beneath the shaft tunnel gazed up in awe of Linn's adorable smile.

Linn unfastened the thin vent covering. "I'm going down there."

"Ok." Michael nodded. "I'm right behind you." He savored his last few moments with Linn's backside. "And lovin' it."

Linn restrained half of her giggle then carefully lowered herself down from the ceiling and landed lightly on the floor. Michael landed beside her a few seconds later. Linn's body seemed perfect in the young stranger's opinion but after a quick glance of Michael's torn clothes and open wounds he quickly stepped away from the two teenagers.

"Hey wait. It's ok he isn't one of them." Linn assured the stranger, taking a few steps towards him. "I can't believe anyone else made it out of the prison. I thought Todd and I were the only ones."

"No…everyone made it out but they all scattered when we reached the exit. I tried to keep everyone together but I got the whole _you're too young to understand_ bullshit." The stranger explained then gently grabbed Linn's hand and shook it, staring into her eyes. "My name's, Jacob by the way, Jacob Mathews. And you are?"

Michael grabbed Jacob's hand a second before Linn could speak and squeezed it tightly. "Her name's, Linn, and I'm, Michael. Don't know if it's nice to meet you yet."

After studying Michael's possessive expression he glanced at Linn who only smiled back at him. "Ok, ok, I get the point."

Michael released Jacob then took a step back. "Good."

"What point?" Linn asked, genuinely confused.

"It's a guy thing." Both men spat out.

"Oh…ok?" Linn glanced around the hall. "So were you looking for a map or radio in here too?"

"Yeah, among other things." Jacob turned, staring down the path he came from. "Couldn't find anything but a bunch of useless files though. They were scattered around like someone placed them there for anyone who survives this mess to read." He scoffed. "Like I wanna waste my time learning what it is they do in this psycho factory."

"That's what I'm sayin' man." Michael nodded in agreement. "You wouldn't believe how many diaries and memos I came across. I'm like, what's the dealio man? I don't got time to read this shit, undead people are tryin' to bite my nuts off."

Linn stared at the two men for a handful of moments. Then, instead of trying to enlighten either of them on how helpful it would be to learn what those discarded documents explained, decided to smile and nod instead. "Um…so can we get out of here now?" Her eyes centered on Michael. "We should try and find a lab that's been used recently. It might have the antidote."

Wasting more time exploring an abandoned factory filled with undead monsters was not something Michael wanted to do. However, finding a cure for himself and ensuring he would have a chance to protect Linn was no waste of time. "Yeah…aight let's get it crackin'."

Jacob made no attempt to hide his confusion. "What? Get it what?"

Michael sighed in annoyance while shaking his head. "White people…"

"Hey I'm white!" Linn snapped.

"Yeah but that statement don't apply to you." Michael explained.

Linn tilted her head to the side as her curiosity spread across her face. "Why?"

For the first time since Linn met him, Michael's lips formed a wide smile. "Because you're a girl."

Instead of anger, laughter flared up inside Linn's chest. "Michael…"

"Oh shit! You have got to be kidding me!" Jacob screamed as he backed away from Linn and Michael while staring down the direction of the hall he just came from.

"Ah…sorry about that dawg. Forgot to mention we just got away from some steroid poppin' zombies." Michael explained.

Jacob shook his head in disbelief. "They're running…they aren't even having trouble staying up or staring around like crack addicts. What the hell is going on here!" Three seconds went by and Jacob received no answer. His terrified gaze turned and his vision filled with a brief image of Michael and Linn running down and turning the corner of the hall. "What the! Wait for me damnit!"

Two sets of running footsteps came to a sliding halt in front of another dead end.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Michael screamed

Jacob finally caught up to Michael and Linn then almost stumbled to the floor as an elevator with no doors or walls filled his vision. "Oh great…"

Linn glanced at both men. "What? It's an elevator. We can get away."

"Those freaks are gonna rain down on us, rip open our skulls, and munch on our brains!" Michael shouted.

Jacob and Linn both stared at Michael with a hint of confusion on their faces.

"If it existed, I'd give you an award for suggesting those weirdoes want to take the time to actually get at our brains instead of just biting off our fingers or something." Jacob tried his best to stay calm.

The three stepped onto the yellow platform with black stripes painting its thin rails. Michael hit the down button and just as the zombies rounded the hallway corner, the elevator shook then began lowering. Forty seconds after the elevator started, the undead Umbrella employees leapt off the hall ledge and fell towards their potential meals. Michael and Linn painted several of the falling corpses with gunshot wounds causing them to bounce off the platform or loose their grip. After both guns were emptied, Jacob and Linn began kicking the zombies off of the platform when they landed while Michael loaded his last gun clip into his berreta. Linn gazed up and could no longer see the hallway ceiling, only a large crowd of undead humans filled her vision and the color in her face slowly began to fade.

Ten seconds before the cloud of zombies smashed into the platform, the elevator came to a jolting halt deep beneath the factory and complex streets. The three survivors dashed off of the elevator just before being crushed by the undead rain cloud. A light blue metal door on the other end of the dirt floor room was the first thing to enter the humans' field of vision. Two other objects grabbed their attention next. Two dark green figures sat curled up in the center of the room. Michael lost interest in the figures and scanned the rest of the area. The walls of the dimly lit room were all made of concrete and the blackened ceiling sprinkled dirt and dust to the floor every second. The ceiling of this room seemed a lot higher than any other Michael had entered and he wondered why anyone would go through the trouble of creating the area that surrounded him. His answer came quickly as the two lumpy figures ten feet in front of him slowly grew taller. Their round bodies became tall and took on a grotesque human form. White five-inch dirt stained claws connected to five large toes on two large feet. Each creature had two legs that extended eight feet from the ground to a muscular waist and stomach. The creatures' arms were well built and their hands were fashioned with five seven-inch claws. A short neck supported a reptilian head similar to that of a chameleon. One of the enormous monsters opened its mouth revealing a large flat tongue and a set of razor sharp fangs.

"No…fucking…way…" Jacob finally managed to speak.

Michael glanced down at his gun then gazed up at the lizard creatures. "Uh uh. This, this, this, ain't gonna work. This shit ain't gonna work."

Linn took a step back as the group of rising zombies momentarily left her mind. One of the undead Umbrella employees wrapped her hand around Linn's ankle and her terrified scream centered the barrel of Michael's handgun over the undead woman's head. Linn's shouting and the shot from Michael's handgun pulled the two lizard creatures' attention to the live flesh in front of the elevator. The lizard closest to the far right wall screeched, hunched over, then charged the humans with great speed.

Michael's eyes widened as his body began to move. "Oh shit!"

Jacob dashed to the left while Linn and Michael jumped to the right and the lizard creature jammed its claws into the gut of an undead scientist. The zombie lizard lifted the groaning zombie man into the air. After two seconds and one swish of air from the lizard's tongue, the scientist's spine snapped at the neck and its head flew into the green creature's mouth.

"Ah sick!" Michael screamed then frantically rose to his feet.

The first lizard creature seemed preoccupied with its meal but the other green monster inside the room centered its yellow eyes with black pupils onto Jacob then squatted down and charged him. Jacob ran along the side of the wall towards the door then forced himself to stumble back, causing the lizard to bury its claws into the stone wall.

"Shit, shit, _shit_!" Jacob ducked under the lizard's arm then continued towards the door.

All three surviving humans reached the blue door together and Linn grabbed the doorknob.

"Oh my…it won't open!" Linn tugged on the door.

"What the hell is that!" Jacob pointed to a small sword design etched underneath the keyhole.

"Mutha fuck! I don't give a fuck _what_ it is! Some sick freak thinks he can make people run around finding all this weird shit to open _shit_!" Michael centered the barrel of his gun on the doorknob. "I got your key right here!" After four loud gunshots the entire doorknob was blasted to the ground leaving a large hole in the door. "That's how real people solve puzzles!" Michael kicked the door open and ran through with Linn and Jacob.

"What the heck is a vending machine doing in here?" Linn wondered as Michael pushed the machine in front of the door.

Michael slid down the machine and sat on the floor. "Don't know, I guess evil assholes need a sprite every now and then."

Linn sat down next to him. "Are you ok?"

"Do I look ok?" Michael laughed weakly.

Linn rested her head on Michael's shoulder. "You will be soon."

"Linn…if we do find this antidote…uh…" He hesitated at Jacob's presence but then decided to continue. "Well I'm well versed in movie facts, you know, like relationships based on life threatening situations never work out."

"Yeah…Sandra Bullock is hot." Jacob said to himself.

Michael stared up at Jacob with annoyance covering his face then returned his gaze to the floor. "Anyway…I know I'm not the guy a girl would want to bring home to her parents but…"

Linn shifted uncomfortably as she listened to Michael. _Oh no…should I tell him? No…I can't…not yet. If I tell him now he might just give up. I can't let him die here. Not after all he's done for me._

The vending machine shook violently and a loud screech echoed from behind it.

"God damnit!" Michael screamed.

Two sets of doors lined yet another long hallway of the factory. Each door had a different name labeled on it and a few windows allowed the three teenagers a view of a different office or laboratory. Each room they looked into from inside the hallway was nearly pitch black and almost every laboratory possessed two or more dark figures limping around. The thought of risking another undead attack in her search for an antidote to the T-Virus entered Linn's mind seconds before a low humming noise caught her attention. The sound was unfamiliar to her but she could tell it generated from some kind of machine.

"Do you hear that?" Linn asked Michael and Jacob.

"Why is there a machine running in this place? Who the hell would be crazy enough to be operating _anything_ in this place?" Jacob wondered.

"It's something to focus on." Michael shrugged off his curiosity.

One bright stainless door sat in the left wall near the center of the hallway.

Michael stepped up to the door then knocked on it. "Whoody whoo…"

Jacob gave Michael a confused glance while Linn only giggled. Michael cautiously opened the door with one hand while holding his gun up with the other. An unpleasant odor flew out of the room into the three teens' faces intertwining with the foul stench of the hallway. The humans frowned with distaste for the smell then slowly stepped through the doorway. The room took on a long rectangular shape extending twelve feet from the left and right of the three survivors. An extensive examination of the room brought several bubbling beakers and chemical filled test tubes into view. Hundreds of different files lay stacked neatly on the two desks positioned at each end of the lab and a long counter, which held up hundreds of experimental substances extended all the way around the room, splitting at the entrance.

"Yeah, like it's _not_ gonna be in here." Michael scanned the room again.

Linn smiled and walked towards the desk located on the far right side of the lab. Michael shut the door and followed her while Jacob explored the left side. The moment Linn came across the desk a small brown notebook grabbed her attention.

"Hey, this is the diary of one of the project manager's assistants." Linn said after glancing over a few sentences.

"Do I care?" Jacob and Michael asked in unison.

Linn sighed while shaking her head then skimmed over the document.

**File: Dr. Ferguson Diary**

**Entry 254: March 3rd, 2004**

He's crazy. At least that's what Dr. Swanson keeps saying. Maybe he's right. In the last five years I've been assigned to this project I never noticed Dr. Thompson ever doing anything out of the ordinary or against company protocol. I think Dr. Swanson is just annoyed by the way Dr. Thompson's voice is so high pitched and the way he always cackles instead of just laughing. The guy could definitely pass for a _mad scientist_. Of course that sad fact is true of us all although my colleagues would disagree. This project Dr. Swanson suggested to the board of directors is unlike anything I've ever seen. The utter failure of the G strain creation, code-named: _Nemesis_ sparked a genius proposal from Dr. Swanson. We have nearly completed a successful test of the new virus strain dubbed R. R for _Reaper_. Although both the T and G viruses have restorative properties the R-Virus takes the regenerative process to a whole new level. While the G-Virus compensates for the slow decomposition of a subject and leaves it with basic intelligence, the R-Virus will keep the subject in constant regeneration without any deformities and preserve enough cerebral cells for self-sustenance and basic motor functions such as jumping or opening doors. While Nemesis proved to be a unique fluke, it could never have defeated the entire S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescues Squad) team without direct guidance from its operators.

**Entry 258 August 27th, 2004**

Dr. Swanson has done it! We have completed a viable strain of the R-Virus. The first test subject has already been selected and injected with the strain. We have kept her under close observation for the past two weeks. Unlike its viral brethren, the R-Virus appears to have a delayed reaction when introduced directly into the blood stream. Further tests on infection will be conducted once the full effects of the virus have taken hold.

**Entry 259 September 6th, 2004**

The R-Virus strain has finally taken hold. At first it seemed as though the strain was an exact duplicate of the T-virus. Upon closer inspection of the deceased subject we found her to have no bodily deformities whatsoever and although highly aggressive she did not posses any of the cannibalistic characteristic of every subject infected with the T-Virus strain. Despite these differences subject 1038 still harbored the increased physical and reflexive abilities expected by our superiors.

**Entry 302 December 6th 2004**

The bite curse, as most of my colleagues have come to call the cannibalistic effects of the T-Virus have taken hold of subject 1038 and every new subject we introduced to the R strain. Despite this setback, we have observed extremely intriguing results from the preservative properties of the R strain. The highly aggressive tendencies I mentioned before have increased tenfold. Live guinea pigs sent into the containment areas with infected subjects have attempted to fight off their attacker, some exhibiting impressive martial arts tactics. One test subject even brought down one of our infected subjects by snapping its neck. This of course upset Dr. Swanson and myself until we witnessed something astonishing. The regenerative properties of the R strain have finally silenced all of the skeptical opinions of the scientists assigned to other projects. After having its neck snapped and all possible brain communication with its body severed, subject 1102 repositioned its head and spine to their proper places and killed the guinea pig with the same attacks that defeated it. It seems that the R strain gives its highest regenerative priorities to the aggressive portions of the human psyche enabling the subjects to copy any form of combat shown to them. It also became apparent that the only affective method of killing anyone infected with the R strain after its final stage has taken hold is complete destruction of the brain. Most T and G strain victims have been terminated by means of decapitation of the waist or incineration. R strain subjects regenerate quickly when their bodies are under constant damage making incineration all but useless and any severed limbs will grow back within anywhere from ten minutes to an hour depending on the severity of the injury. When asked why the infected subjects showed no basic linguistic skills Dr. Swanson gave me the pleasure of explaining how the R strain focuses mainly on every human's basic needs for survival…aggression, regeneration, and the most basic of needs. The need to feed.

**Entry 305 January 15th, 2005**

That bastard, Thompson is indeed mad. Dr. Swanson and I returned to our lab and found it ransacked. Several vials of the R strain were stolen along with a copy of the creation formula. How that fool was able to bypass our security codes is beyond me but it does not matter. As soon as Dr. Swanson reports this atrocity to Mr. Trenton, the head of this island headquarters, he will be detained and thrown into the stockade with the rest of the guinea pigs.

**Entry 306 January 20th, 2005**

Unbelievable…the R project has been shut down. After Thompson stole the strain he cleverly covered his tracks. He made it appear as if Dr. Swanson staged the entire incident so he could smuggle the strain out to our competitors. Swanson was set lose in the containment area of one of the newly infected G strain subjects. They are still hell bent on the resurrection of the Nemesis Project. My life was unexpectedly spared, as they knew I had no access to Dr. Swanson's files, which contained the R strain formula. Dr. Swanson pleaded with me to support him in his accusations of Dr. Thompson. I knew what Bernard had done…I just did not want to anger my superiors any more. Yes I am a coward but I am at least still alive to admit it.

**Entry 307 April 9th, 2005**

More strange happenings throughout the factory and Dr. Thompson is at the center of them all. He always resented Dr. Swanson for the success of the R strain over his own futile project. Now it seems that his insane intentions have turned to me. I have been reassigned to a new project under Dr. Pollack. Several bodies scheduled for disposal have been disappearing from storage. I know it is him, I've seen him hovering around the incineration huts. I am the only one he allows a preview into whatever madness he is concocting. The only thing I cannot figure out is why he bothered to steal the R strain formula. I know for a fact he has not used it to benefit his own project.

**Entry 308 April 12th, 2005**

Inconceivable! Thompson successfully completed his _super soldier_ project over 19 years ago! The company heads took his sample and kept him out of the loop of its use. The fool has spent the last two decades trying to recreate what was stolen from him. Apparently his _mistakes_ have been as highly valued as his _success_ and as such the company has kept him alive and apparently unaware of everything that has transpired.

**Entry 309 April 13th, 2005**

I warned them of the dangers of keeping a lunatic employed in this line of work, even if he is being watched by most of his assistants. _Was_ being watched would be more accurate. The bodies he stole…they could have only been used for one of two purposes. To reanimate, or to feed whatever it is he has reanimated. Now the entire factory is overrun with the recently released infected subjects. Almost all of my fellow scientists have fallen victim to one another. Only Dr. Pollack, Dr. Givers, Dr. Sophie Renolds, and myself remain locked up in Dr. Swanson's old laboratory. Sophie lost her husband in all of this. I knew him; he was a good man. He never took on a project that required the use of guinea pigs. I have no idea how we are going to survive this nightmare. Only the guards are authorized to carry guns anywhere on the island. Oddly enough, no one has been alerted to the current situation. Our only hope lies with one of the creatures leaving the factory. I know it is cowardly of me to hope that these monsters overrun that town so help can arrive, but I would rather be a coward than a corpse.

**End File**

Linn slowly set the notebook back down onto the desk. "Sickos double crossing sickos."

"What's that, gorgeous?" Michael glanced over at Linn.

Linn smiled as she gazed up at Michael. "You…" A small vial with a green substance sparkled in the corner of her eye. "There it is!"

Michael walked over to the device that had grabbed Linn's attention. "What, that thing?"

"Yup yup." Linn replied, staring down at the three-dimensional rectangular machine. Five drawers were built into the front of the device and a small metal bowl sunk down from the top. Above the bowl, three robotic arms held three large test tubes filled with two different chemicals. Two of the glass cylinders held a green chemical while the other held a purple liquid. "Liquid candy." Linn smiled.

Michael pulled one of the green vials from the machine and held it over his right arm. "One way to find out."

The vial had a built in injection attachment, which Michael activated by pressing a small button on the top while holding the bottom of the vial over several of his veins. Linn watched the green substance vanish from the vial in less than two seconds then held her breath silently praying that it would work.

"You do realize you just injected yourself with something and you have no idea what it is right?"

"Shut up!" Linn shocked herself with the raw emotion she heard in her voice. Linn grabbed the vial with the purple chemical in it and stuffed it into her pocket. _Just in case this was the right one._

"Sorry…" Jacob held his hands up in surrender.

Michael set the vial down and gazed at Linn. "Sexy…"

Linn shook her head while staring at the floor then gazed up into Michael's eyes. "Is it working? How do you feel?"

"I have no idea. I don't feel tired anymore but…" Michael hesitated as hundreds of unfamiliar emotions surged through him. "Linn…"

"Hmm? What is it?" Linn wondered.

"I just…I'm not good with…people…and normally…normally I would…" Michael's brain couldn't work fast enough to reform his feelings into words.

"You would have left me back in that lot to fend for myself?" Linn found it strange she understood the man in front of her when she had only known him for a few hours.

"Well…" Michael scratched the back of his head while staring at the floor. "There's that and…" He took a deep breath then gazed into Linn's eyes once more. "You're the first person I've ever had any real emotions for. You know…besides anger or disgust. I mean for some reason, I don't why…I'm more concerned with seeing you smile or hearing you laugh than staying alive in this place and…"

Linn suddenly found herself holding back a stream of tears. "Michael…" She shuddered as her voice halted Michael's rambling. "I…I had a life before this place."

Michael let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Yeah, I know but…"

"I had…I have a boyfriend." Linn continued. "He isn't just someone I'm with…I love him and…"

Linn's voice faded into the depths of Michael's mind. His eyes focused on her lips moving and her expression. But the words she formed made no sense to him. Michael couldn't understand anything Linn said after he heard those last three words escape her lips. Small beads of sweat began to seep out of his chest and forehead. His breathing became sluggish and his right hand gripped his chest tightly.

Linn gasped in the middle of her rejection speech as Michael's back hit the counter. "Michael…Michael!"

Jacob glanced up at Michael then took a step back. "Holy shit!" His eyes centered on the door first then on Linn who he did not want to see ripped to shreds by a zombie. "Linn! Door!"

"No! We have to help him!" Linn protested.

Jacob ran over to Linn and grabbed her arm. "We can't help him!"

Despair…the only thing that ran through Michael's mind the entire time he struggled to remain on his feet, was despair. The unfamiliar pain aching inside Michael's chest felt too real to be born from the virus. _Why the hell would I think I could ever…after everything I've done…I deserve to die here. But she doesn't._ Painfully, Michael pulled his gaze to the ceiling. _You did this to me didn't you…I fall for her, save her, and she goes on to do whatever goody girly shit this planet needs…and I die here, alone._

"Michael!" Linn's voice broke through Michael's torment. She tried her best to help him stay on his feet. "Michael hold on, please!"

Tears slowly began to sparkle behind Michael's eyes. "Linn…it…isn't the virus."

"What…?" Confusion spread across Linn's face.

Michael's hand tightened over his chest again as his body shuddered. "Ow…but I think that was…" His muscles began convulsing and his lungs squeezed themselves shut. "Get…get away…!" His right arm knocked several test tubes and beakers to the floor as his legs carried him to the center of the far right wall. His back slammed against the weakly constructed counter breaking it off of the wall. Michael's back pressed against the wall and his body slid down to the floor.

Linn stared at Michael's lifeless body, stunned. Her eyes remained open with tears on the brink of falling and the gasp of air she took remained still in her lungs. "Michael…" Her brain was unaware of her legs' movements. Linn soon found herself sitting on both knees in front of Michael. Her right hand gently caressed his wounded chest then quickly pulled back as Michael's body flinched. A single tear from each of Linn's eyes rolled down her cheeks as she gasped. _Michael…_ Another twitch from the fallen warrior forced Linn's hand over Michael's gun and she pulled it from his pants. Quickly, Linn stood to her feet and backed away towards the door.

"Hey what are you doing?" Jacob asked.

"I…I don't want to see him like…like…as one of those things!" Linn screamed.

"You have to finish him off." Jacob ordered.

"No!" Linn shook her head violently.

"He wouldn't want to be wandering around this place with no soul. Do you want that to happen to him?" Jacob placed his hand on Linn's shoulder.

"No…" Linn lowered her head in defeat.

Jacob took a step back as his eyes widened. "Holy shit!" Three seconds later the laboratory door opened and the sound of Jacob's footsteps weakened down the hall.

Tears streamed from Linn's eyes down her face as she shuddered. Her gaze rose to the wall and Michael's body stood sluggishly to its feet. "Mi…Michael I…" _I broke his heart just before he died…the pain he felt…it's my fault he couldn't resist the virus!_

Michael's arms hung loosely by his sides and his gaze remained pinned to the floor. Slowly, his head rose and a few silent seconds later, his eyes shot open. Linn gazed in horror into Michael's eyes. The ruthless overconfident gaze that the young man's hazel pupils once generated, was now replaced with a ghostly milky white stare.

Linn remained frozen until after Michael's third unsteady step towards her. "I'm sorry…" The barrel of Michael's gun centered over his forehead. "I'm sorry!" Her eyes closed and her finger squeezed the trigger. Another handful of silent seconds passed. "I…I can't do it…I can't!" Linn lowered the gun then dropped it to the floor. "Michael…please snap out of it!"

"Ungh…" Michael quickened his approach as Linn began to back away.

"Please…" Linn begged. "Please!" Linn shuddered violently as Michael grabbed her shoulders forcing her into the counter along the wall. The thin metal shook under the terrified young woman as she tried her best to keep Michael's teeth away from her flesh. Somehow, through the blank nothingness Linn saw in Michael's eyes, she could still see the same pain filled gaze he wore before he died. "I won't leave you…" Linn's back hit the floor and her grip on Michael's shoulders weakened as a large shard of broken glass sunk deep into her shoulder blade. _Oh god._

Michael's teeth froze two centimeters away from Linn's throat and stayed there. "No…"

Linn slowly opened her eyes and watched Michael's hazel brown pupils slowly return to the center of his eyes. "Sweetie…"

Michael gagged as he threw himself back from Linn. Vomit poured up from his throat and pain exploded onto his face. "What…what the fuck!"

Linn's lips formed an overjoyed smile as she sat up and pulled the glass from her shoulder. "Michael…you're alive!" She winced at an aftershock of pain from the glass as she moved closer to Michael.

"No!" Michael pushed himself away from Linn. "Get away!"

"Michael…it's ok." Linn assured him.

"No!" The heartbreak Michael felt after learning Linn's love belonged to another combined with the inferno of guilt and shock from knowing he nearly killed her was too much for him to handle. Michael pressed his back against the far right corner of the laboratory then burst into tears.

Linn put her arms around Michael after crawling over to him and gently caressed his cheek with her hand. "It's ok."

Half an hour passed and Linn continued to comfort Michael, ignoring the blood streaming out of her shoulder. Tears were the last things she ever expected to see in his eyes. However, somehow after everything that had just happened, her feelings for him hadn't changed. "So um…I was reading the lab assistant's journal and…well there's another virus besides the T-Virus. Two more actually…I think that purple stuff is the antidote to the other one that was loose in Raccoon City."

Michael couldn't understand why Linn was comfortable being so close to him after what he had just done. He couldn't understand why she showed no signs of distaste when his hands gently caressed her waist and back. More than that he couldn't understand why he was even able to wonder about these things. _I should be dead_. Disgust began to surface in his heart. Disgust with himself. He knew her affection was only out of pity and yet there he was, holding onto her confirming every stereo type adults made about how pathetic and weak children are.

Linn let go of Michael and watched him take the two remaining vials from the strange machine. She didn't resist him when he gently grabbed her arm and injected her with both chemicals. "So…what do we do now?" As she stood to her feet she noticed something different about Michael's demeanor. His presence felt darker than before, if that was at all possible, she thought.

"We get the fuck out of here." The laboratory doorknob began rattling after Michael's reply.

Both teenagers retrieved their guns and centered the barrels on the doorway.

Thomas stepped through the now open door and stopped at the sight of Michael and Linn. "So…what have you two kids been up to?"

* * *

"So you turned into a zombie?" Thomas never thought he would actually ask someone that question.

"Pretty much yeah." Michael's reply had its usual carelessness.

"We were lucky the antidote kicked in when it did." Linn added.

Thomas slowed his walking pace then took in a deep breath. "Look, I don't know too much about Umbrella or its viruses and whatnot but…I've been reading a lot since I got to this island and I'm pretty sure that once you turn there's no going back."

"Thomas, dawg, did you take a stupid pill before you got out of that prison? I'm standin' right here." Michael protested.

"Yeah…yeah you are." Thomas admitted.

"Did you keep anything you found?" Linn wondered.

Thomas pulled the notebook he found from his knapsack then handed it to Linn. "Just this and…oh you should use this for that wound." He grabbed one of the first aid spray cans.

"Oh…hey! I saw one of those commercials for these!" Linn giggled. After applying the medicine to her wound she skimmed over the file. Her legs froze for a moment and a blank expression covered her face.

"What's wrong?" Thomas asked.

Linn remained still.

"Yo, what's up with you?" Michael asked.

Linn closed her eyes then shook her head and smiled. "Nothing…let's go."

* * *

Breathing in the outside air was a blissful experience for the three teenagers. Michael and Thomas both turned and took one last long look at the factory. Linn stared at both men wondering why they were concentrating so hard on a place that nearly killed them then decided she'd rather not know. The side exit of the factory led into an enormous dirt ground vehicle graveyard. Hundreds of broken down cars, trucks, and vans littered the ground. Large heavy construction vehicles were also scattered throughout the closed in lot. A wall of stone encircled around the junkyard and only a small metal staircase attached to the cliff presented a possible exit route.

Michael sighed and shook his head in distaste of his surroundings. "I hate this place."

Thomas leaned against an outdated Ford Station Wagon. "Who the hell doesn't?" Thomas flinched as a dirt stained arm wrapped around his neck. "Gah!" He yanked the arm down then quickly turned and backed away from the car. "God damnit! I hate it when they do that!"

"You and me both…" A familiar voice shot out from the car.

Linn tilted her head to the side. "Jacob?"

"Who?" Thomas asked while centering his gun on one of the car windows.

Jacob peeked out from the floor of the station wagon and glanced over the small group of humans. "What the hell? Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Jacob stared confused at Michael.

"Dawg, I'm from the ghetto, horror movie shit can't kill me." Michael joked.

"Doesn't the black guy always get it first in horror movies?" Thomas laughed.

"Oh that's just a Caucasian inferiority complex. Y'all are always stickin' around for and walkin' towards the horror shit like idiots and gettin' killed. When black folds started makin' fun of y'all you just started makin' sure they get killed first." Michael explained.

Thomas and Jacob made sure their expressions revealed how offended they were but made no attempt to deny Michael's claim.

"Anyway, who the hell are you? You some kinda homosexual or something?" Thomas returned his stare to Jacob.

"What! No you bastard!" Jacob protested.

"Well then why the hell are you camped out in a car, grabbin' unsuspecting men when they walk by?" Michael wondered.

"I was not _camped out_ I was hiding." Jacob explained.

"From what?" Linn asked.

A violent rumbling shook the junkyard. "That!" Jacob's finger pointed towards the west-end of the cliff.

An enormous shadow enveloped the entire junkyard. Michael, Linn, and Thomas all turned then gazed up at the origin of the shadow. Towering over seventy feet above the three humans, a gargantuan sized undead man growled as he stared down at his potential meals. Each of his unnaturally large limbs harbored an impressive display of muscles. His bald head, almost skinless, took on the shape of a human skull. One sky-blue eye peeked out from behind a metal plate that surrounded most of the monster's face. The same metal covered the creature's chest, shoulders, and thighs.

Thomas kept his eyes open; not even the chill from the night air drying out all of the moisture around his corneas could shut them. "Now that right there…is fucked up."

Michael took a step back as shock and disbelief exploded onto his face. "Ain't that some shit!"

Seeing how unsettled the monster made Michael, Linn couldn't control her trembling. "Why does this keep happening!"

"What the fuck's goin' on! Look at that big mutha fucka got armored plating all over his body. Who the fuck puts armored plating on a zombie! How the fuck did it get that big! What the fuck! This shit is…FUCK!" Michael took in a deep breath.

Thomas casually glanced at Michael. "You get it all out of your system?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Michael's careless demeanor returned. He pulled his gun from his pants then stared at it for a moment. "We're in trouble."

Thomas and Linn nodded in agreement then followed Michael, spreading out through the junkyard. The zombie giant stomped towards the three humans with unexpected speed. Every hunk of rusting metal bounced a few feet into the air with each step the beast took. Michael emerged from the destroyed vehicles on the roof of a shredded white van. Three bullets shot from his gun before a loud click echoed throughout the junkyard. Only one of the bullets planted itself in the monster's eye, barely effecting the creature.

Michael glanced at his gun once more. "Uh huh." The zombie's fist slammed into the van sending it and Michael hurling through the air. His body hit the cliff then kicked up dust on the ground.

Thomas gazed back at Linn. "Now that's an example on what _not_ to do when you have to fight a forty foot zombie."

"Are you sure that thing is forty feet high? It looks bigger…" Linn asked.

Thomas shook his head while sighing in annoyance. "Women…"

Linn frowned. "Hey! You…"

"You see that wrecking ball?" Thomas interrupted Linn.

"Uh…yeah." Linn replied.

"I don't think it will be driving anywhere soon but it looks like it's still working." Thomas pointed to the machine. "You get it running and I'll lure that thing…"

The giant's shadow enveloped Thomas and Linn.

"Nevermind…" Thomas jumped to his feet and ran in the opposite direction of the wrecking ball machine.

Linn jumped into the machine and scanned the controls. "You guys are lucky I'm studying to be a mechanic."

Thomas front rolled underneath the giant's hand barely dodging its grasp then stood to his feet underneath the beast. "Oh my god…thank you…thank you…THANK YOU whoever built this thing for putting that armor plating over its crotch!" The giant's clenched fist swung towards him. "Oh shit!" He jumped out of the way almost suffering a worse fate than Michael did.

A deadly silence intertwined with a mystifying fog surrounded Michael after the final five bullets from his second gun sparked off of the giant's armor. Linn held her breath as she slowly gazed up at Michael's back. Thomas gasped for air behind the back half of a destroyed Mercedes then glanced up at Michael. Confusion crept onto Thomas's face as he caught his breath. Something seemed different about the young man that he had only known for a few hours. The young man that in Thomas's opinion shouldn't be alive.

Blood streamed down from the open gash on the left side of Michael's forehead as his glare rose to meet the giant's eyes. His open palm extended in front of him and his fingers twitched back and forth. "Come on."

The giant cleared the short distance between Michael and itself in less than two seconds in a mad dash towards the teenager then leapt into the air while releasing an ear-piercing roar. Its arm pulled back while its hand formed a massive fist then launched forward destroying the ground and machines in front of it.

"Michael!" Linn's close friend disappeared into the loud carnage and destruction created by the giant. Linn's kind gaze sharpened into an infuriated glare. "You…bastard!" The wrecking ball ripped through the mist with all of Linn's rage flaming behind it. A loud gasp escaped the young woman as the giant caught the black ball in its left hand and crushed it while drool and a low snarl flowed from its mouth. "No." Linn remained frozen in the seat of the vehicle. The giant's shadow enveloped her and the wounded machine.

An almost unnoticeable sound of trickling liquid caught the beast's attention. Its stare lowered beside the grayish yellow vehicle and the large eye peeking out from behind the metal plating took in the unexpected view of Michael, standing next to the wrecking ball machine. The vehicle's fuel hatch had been opened and the small remaining liquid inside of the tank seeped out onto the ground.

Michael's dead stare rose to Linn's terrified gaze. "Get out." As Linn jumped down from the machine, Michael slowly walked away from the vehicle then stopped twenty feet away from it.

The giant glared at Michael as fresh drool seeped out from in between its teeth. Michael kept his eyes fixated on the monster's eye as his right foot slid back along the ground then shot forward kicking up a long metal pole rusting in the cold night air. The pole hovered in front of his face for what seemed like hours before Michael's body spun quickly rising into the air. Before the giant could manage two steps towards Michael, the young teen's right foot slammed into metal pole sending the object twirling through the mist. The edge of the pole scrapped along the wrecking ball machine sending several sparks into the air. As the small orbs of light hit the gasoline on the ground, the following explosion although powerful, was not enough to halt the giant's advance. However, the searing heat from the orange flames caught hold of the grimy muscular form beneath the silver metal armor. The giant shrieked in rage and pain as it stomped forward towards Michael, who stood silent, gazing down at the ground. The large monster limped while the flames reformed its already decaying form into millions of black ash particles. Small beads of liquid dripped from the melting armor before the flames finally overtook the giant bringing it to the ground with an earthshaking thud.

Michael exhaled onto the giant's scorched head that pulsed less than three inches from the teen's black sneakers. "Fucker…"

Linn slowly walked over to Michael then stopped beside him. "Michael…" The young woman's breath left her as Michael's eyes reflected inside of her eyes. No longer did she see the light hazel ring that encircled his black pupils. The color in his eyes had been swallowed up by the dark void that pulsed around him. "What is it…? What's wrong?"

Michael gazed into Linn's eyes for a moment longer before walking past her towards the staircase. "Nothing."

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Frank wondered.

"One way to find out." Mark answered.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to go walking _towards_ an explosion in this place?" Cynthia protested.

"Undead things aren't smart enough to make things blow up." Lisa pointed out.

"Good point." Richard agreed.

The five adults walked in the direction of the recent explosion.

* * *

"Do you have some kind of death wish or something?" Jacob asked while staring at Michael's back.

"It took you _that_ long to figure it out?" Michael replied.

Linn lowered her head for a moment at Michael's answer. Thomas, more concerned with leaving the factory grounds increased his pace as he lead the three teenage survivors behind him up the steel staircase. As the young men and woman reached the top of the cliff they all froze at the sight of something more unexpected than the recently defeated zombie giant.

"Kids! Look Cynthia, it's a bunch of kids!" Lisa shouted in excitement.

"Oh no…" Michael groaned while stepping away from the group of survivors.

"Hey! I remember you! You were the one who said we'd all be killed if I kept encouraging everyone to escape the prison." Linn pointed at Cynthia.

"And she was right too!" Frank growled.

Thomas took a step forward as if to shield Linn. "Hey what the hell are you talking about?"

"Who the hell are you?" Frank snapped.

Mark sighed in annoyance at the pointless bickering surrounding him then scratched at the makeshift bandage Lisa had made for him from her own clothing. "Here we go…"

Michael noticed the ex-Umbrella employee favoring his injured arm and in an instant had one of his guns centered on the man's forehead.

"Hey!" Lisa stepped in front of Mark glaring at Michael. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

Everyone turned at Lisa's shouts then stepped towards the two men with guns.

"Yeah, What _are_ you doing?" Thomas wondered.

"He's been bitten." Michael accused.

"So you're just gonna shoot him?" Jacob protested.

Michael remained silent.

"You know not more than two hours ago you were…" Jacob's words were muffled by Linn's hand covering his mouth.

"Michael you don't have to shoot him, we can just find another vial of the cure." Linn suggested.

"I'm not going back in that factory and I'm not wasting my time searching this fucking place for a stupid fucking cure for this corporation ho." Michael fingered the Umbrella insignias with the barrel of his gun then re-aimed the weapon at Mark's head.

"Look, I don't work for them anymore." Mark stated.

"Are you sure _they_ know that?" Frank added.

Mark sighed while glancing at Frank. "You know what? Your timing for these types of situations _really_ sucks."

Frank pulled the gun he used to slay the plant bud creature and centered the barrel on Michael's head. "All right, I've had just about enough of this shit!" He pulled back the chamber, cocking his gun. "Put the gun down now!"

Michael's second gun rose from his pants and centered on Frank's forehead. "Fuck you."

Linn couldn't understand what was happening but somehow she knew she was the only one that might have a chance at stopping it. "Michael…" Her hands rested on the young man's left shoulder and chest. "Please stop. There's no reason for all of this."

Michael's lips formed a sly grin before he pulled the triggers of his guns. "Useless…"

Frank flinched at the silent click Michael's guns made while Mark only stood silent.

"Hey what the hell is his problem!" Richard shouted.

Linn let go of Michael as he walked away from her a few feet down the road. "He's…not your average teenager."

"None of you seem to be average. Was it you who caused that explosion?" Cynthia asked.

"You can blame that one on Michael." Jacob fingered the young man standing away from the group.

"What? Did one of those cars down there piss him off or something?" Frank wondered.

"No…that thing did." Thomas pointed down at the charred remains of the zombie giant.

Mark took a few steps into the center of the group. "Well anyway, now that the pleasantries are out of the way I think we should learn everyone's names, incase we need to warn someone they're about to die."

"Not the optimistic type." Jacob suggested.

"No, not really. The name's Mark by the way." The mercenary stated.

"Thomas."

"Jacob."

"Linn."

"Cynthia."

"Lisa."

"Frank."

"Richard."

"Can we get the fuck out of here now?" Michael asked.

"Right after you kids hand over those guns. Frank you can give me mine back now." Mark ordered.

Frank handed him the nine-millimeter handgun then waited for one of the teenagers to relinquish their weapons.

Mark glanced over at Michael. "Look, I'm sure you've put them to good use but I think they'll be better suited in the hands of people who know more about using them."

Michael smiled, scoffed, and let out an amused light chuckle. "You're joking right? You've gotta be fucking joking."

"I'm with Michael on this one. Just who the hell do you think you are anyway?" Thomas protested.

"Just because we're young doesn't mean we don't know anything about guns." Linn pointed out.

"If you _mature_ more _experienced_ assholes…were better suited for these guns then you'd have found them instead of us." Michael stated.

"I have my own desert eagles back home and I know how to use them just fine." Linn continued.

Mark took a few steps towards Linn. "Look, all I'm saying is..."

Michael's gun stopped Mark's advance. "What a surprise you go for what appears to be the weakest _child_ in the group."

"Hey!" Linn shouted.

"You fucking bigot ass adults are all the same." Michael accused.

"And just how do you plan on killing me with an empty gun?" Mark wondered.

"Take another step towards her and you'll find out." Michael warned.

"Hey, hey! Enough!" Lisa demanded.

"She's right we still have to find a way off this island and we already have enough things trying to kill us. We don't need to be worrying about each other too!" Richard shouted.

Michael let his gun fall to his side while taking a step back from Mark. "You stay the hell away from me, and you stay the hell away from her." His words carried a dark anger that didn't surprise Linn. Nor did it instill any type of fear in her heart.

Mark sighed while staring at the ground then gazed up at the dark silhouette of a large tower behind the tall buildings of the town. "What else could happen?"


	5. Endangered Mutation

**Chapter Five: Endangered Mutation**

Hundreds of undead humans wavered back and forth in the middle of a broken down street. Their white milky eyes stared off into a ghostly limbo only they could see.

"Not one…" Cynthia squinted her eyes trying to get a better view of the zombies.

"Not one what?" Richard asked.

"Not one of them has…well except for where they were bitten." Cynthia answered.

"Some of them have no wounds at all." Mark pointed out.

"They're the people the factory scientists experimented on with the R virus." Linn stated.

"So…they finally completed it." Mark gazed out at the crowd of unfortunate victims.

"I really wish I had at least one bullet in one of my guns right now." Michael let his annoyance flow through his voice.

"You still wanna shoot Mark?" Jacob wondered.

"Yes. But right now I would rather fire a round off into the air and alert all of those muck mouth fuckers so maybe you'd all shut up and move." Michael replied.

"Hey if you don't like the present company then get the hell out of here!" Frank snapped.

Michael stared out at the Umbrella headquarters for a moment then grunted in agreement with Frank's suggestion. Linn ran to the front of the group until she was in front of Michael.

"Hey wait. You don't even have any ammunition." Linn protested.

"What the hell do you care?" Even though she wasn't the cause of his anger, Michael didn't suppress it while speaking to Linn.

Linn was almost too shocked to speak. "I…I care…" She said weakly while lowering her stare to the ground.

Michael sighed and also stared at the ground, then gently placed the side of his finger under Linn's chin and lifted her gaze onto his own. Five seconds later he stepped over to the side of the street and nearly fell off into a giant chasm expanding halfway down the road in the direction of the Umbrella tower. Green gunk and brown liquids poured out from several cracks and holes etched throughout an entrance into the islands sewage system. After steadying himself, Michael decided to take a closer look into the large yellowish tunnel by jumping down from the street.

"You can't seriously be thinking of going in there! I can smell all that funky shit from up here!" Thomas shouted.

Michael answered his question by stepping forward, disappearing under the cracked street.

"One of those strong silent types, huh?" Lisa wondered.

"More like homicidal, suicidal, crazy, jerk types." Jacob corrected her.

"Whatever he is, he wants to get out of here a lot more than we do." Mark stated.

"How the hell do you figure that?" Frank wondered.

"Yeah, I want off this island just as much as any of you or him." Richard added.

"I don't think he means the island." Thomas suggested.

"I said he was suicidal. Didn't I already say he was suicidal? Didn't I _just_ say he was suicidal?" Jacob wondered.

"What's so suicidal about exploring a sewer tunnel?" Linn asked while looking for a safe way down.

Everyone stared down at the tunnel with scrunched up faces and some with their hands over their noses.

"She isn't the brains of your little group is she?" Cynthia asked.

Linn growled adorably at the group.

* * *

"Fucking T-Virus infected shit." Michael frowned at the foul odor trapped inside the tunnel.

A quick glance around the round passageway brought several red lights attached to the ceiling into view. A large black ladder rested twenty feet away from the young teen. One of the many slain security mercenaries hired by Umbrella to defend the island complex lay still below the tall flat stairway. The shallow sewage water rose high enough to cover the dead man's face and half of his torn bloodstained uniform. To Michael's surprise and satisfaction, the guard's gun clips were attached far enough back on the side of his belt to escape the sewage water. After Michael reloaded his second gun the guard's lifeless body twitched to its feet and the human waste covered zombie roared while reaching out for the life flesh in front of it.

Michael frowned and covered his nose while taking a step back from the mercenary. He let his hand drop and for a moment, continuously glanced up and down at the lower and top halves of the zombie's sewage covered body. "Oh…_hell_ no!"

One well placed roundhouse from the young teen snapped the guard's neck and brought his body back down to the tunnel floor. Michael fired a bullet into the dead man's chest before walking away, the frown still covering his face. Four seconds later he turned around and stepped back over to the zombie, firing another two bullets into the creature's leg and stomach. "You…nasty mutha fucka." Another bullet from Michael's gun drilled itself into the guard's forehead before the disgruntled teen shuddered and continued on down the tunnel. "Nasty mutha fucka."

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Lisa glanced at Mark.

"Gunshots." Mark replied.

Linn ran into the tunnel and Thomas and Jacob soon dashed after her.

"They just ran off _in the direction_ of gunshots. Where the hell did you find these kids?" Frank asked while staring at Mark.

"Hey…you were there too." Mark replied.

A few seconds later the remaining survivors ran down the tunnel towards the gunshots.

* * *

Linn stopped for a moment and examined the slain zombie soaking up sewer water. "Eww."

Jacob stopped beside Linn then glanced down at the zombie. "Eww."

"Hey what are you all looking at?" Thomas stepped up beside Linn and Jacob then stared down at the zombie. "Eww."

Although disgusted, for some reason all three teens could not remove their stares from the corpse. "Eeeeewwww."

* * *

Sewer water splashed onto the right tunnel wall as Lisa stopped in front of the dead security guard zombie. "Eww."

Mark came to a halt beside her. "Eww."

Frank and Richard both stopped beside Mark and Lisa. "Eeeeeeewwwww."

Cynthia folded her arms as she stopped beside the group of adults. "What is the matter with you people. It's just a dead body. We've seen hundreds of…" She silenced herself as she got a better look at the once undead sewage covered corpse. "…Eww."

* * *

Linn slowed her run down the tunnel to a steady jog at the sight of a tall black ladder leading up to a hatch in the tunnel ceiling. "Look there's another one."

"You think Michael went up one of them?" Jacob wondered.

"No…he'd leave the hatch open to let us know." Thomas answered.

"You sure about that?" Jacob asked.

Before he could answer, Thomas saw Michael running towards him down the tunnel. "I am now."

"Up the ladder! Get the FUCK up the ladder, NOW!" Michael screamed.

Linn stopped in the middle of the tunnel then shuddered as she remembered the last time she saw any kind of excitement on Michael's face. "Something big is coming to kill us isn't it…?"

A ground shaking thud and an ear-piercing roar answered the young woman's question. Michael grabbed Linn's hand as he ran by her and pulled her into a dash towards the ladder.

Jacob frowned as he watched the two run down the tunnel. "Hey! What about us!"

Thomas's face formed an expression that showed his disbelief in how stupid and weird he thought Jacob was but instead of saying anything he ran after Michael and Linn.

* * *

"Did you hear that? What the hell was that?" Richard asked nervously.

"Some…thing I don't know how the hell should I know?" Frank snapped.

Mark started running down the tunnel with Lisa close behind him. "Come on!"

* * *

As Linn grabbed the center rung on the ladder her head turned and her eyes took in the sight of an enormous crocodile. The beast's armored hide was as green as the waste filled gunk dripping from the tunnel ceiling with thousands of yellowish spots covering it. Its eyes were bloodshot red and sharpened as they focused on the creature's potential meals. As the crocodile roared, gallons of sewer water gushed from its mouth onto the tunnel floor.

"No way…" Thomas said weakly.

Michael, Jacob, and Thomas all ran as far as the could up the side of the tunnel to avoid being washed away in the sewage filled water then made their way back over to the ladder.

"That's sick! That shit is just sick! That shit…that shit _is _shit! That funky lump of reptile drank all the shit!" Michael shouted.

"Guys! Hurry!" Linn screamed from the top of the ladder. She pushed open the hatch and climbed inside.

Michael pulled his guns from his pants while walking towards the crocodile. "Go!"

Jacob had no problems following Michael's order and rushed up the ladder. "Fuuuuuuck this!"

"Are you fucking crazy? That's an eighty fucking foot zombie crocodile!" Thomas shouted.

Mark and Lisa came to a sliding halt twenty feet away from the ladder. "Holy shit! It's an eighty fucking foot zombie crocodile!" Lisa screamed.

Mark, Thomas, and Michael all stared at Lisa with blank expressions. Jacob did the same from below the hatch. Lisa glanced around at all the men staring at her. "What?"

"You cussed." Mark answered.

"I cussed before." Lisa said innocently.

"Hell isn't a cuss word." Mark stated.

"You said fuck." Thomas said while nodding with a smirk on his face.

"What is wrong with all of you…?" Lisa asked nervously.

"It's a guy thing." All of the men shrugged.

Michael unloaded ten bullets into the crocodile's face while walking towards it. "Go to sleep bitch! Die mutha fucka die!"

"God damn…he _is_ insane." Thomas concluded then continued up the ladder.

The rest of the group of survivors finally caught up to Mark and Lisa.

"Holy shit! It's a…" Richard started, then stopped as Mark's hand rose in front of his face.

"We already covered that." The mercenary stated.

"Twice!" Thomas shouted before climbing into the hatch opening.

Lisa grabbed the ladder and started climbing. "Is he insane?" Lisa shouted while glancing at Michael.

"Yes!" Thomas and Jacob shouted from above the hatch opening.

"Michael!" Mark shouted.

"What!" Michael fired another bullet, chipping off a piece of one of the crocodile's teeth.

"Hi-tech R.P.G!" Mark pulled the large weapon and a small rocket from his coat.

Michael stared at the weapon with a slight spark of respect in his eyes. "Damn…"

Michael lowered his head as his body sunk at a right slant and Mark fired the rocket from his R.P.G just as the mutated crocodile flashed its fangs, ready to devour all of the humans still in the tunnel. Just before the rocket impacted with the gargantuan zombie reptile, the green beast shut its mouth and lowered its head. The following explosion pushed Michael back into the air then dropped him onto the tunnel floor.

"Ah sick!" Michael pulled his orange jacket off, slinging several chunks of sewer sludge onto the tunnel walls.

Mark, Richard, Cynthia, Frank, and Michael all gazed up at the black cloud of smoke that engulfed the tunnel where the crocodile once stood.

"R.P.G…the choice weapon for clearing giant mutant freaks from your walking path." Mark boasted while holding the rocket launcher over his right shoulder.

Michael took a step forward about to turn towards the ladder when an unsettling tremor tingled at the back of his skull. His eyes shot up to the black cloud then widened. "Shhhh…" His body rose to the air as he jumped to the right and front rolled through the sewer water.

Mark stared up as the cloud of smoke reformed into an almost unfazed zombie crocodile. "Holy…" His sentence was cut short as the infuriated beast opened its massive jaws and in a split second slammed them closed around the mercenary's entire body.

Lisa froze near the center of the ladder as salt water fell from behind her eyes. "NO!" Devastation loosened the woman's grip around the ladder rungs and her emotionally drained body fell from the ladder then hit the floor with a loud splash and silent thud.

"Lisa!" Cynthia shouted then gazed up as the crocodile centered its glare on her.

"Yo! Suitcase!" Michael shouted.

The reptilian monstrosity turned its dark red eyes to the young man standing to its right then roared, releasing another wave of sewer water. Michael ran up the curved tunnel wall and launched himself forward towards the crocodile's massive jaws. His arms extended forward centering the barrel of his guns on the beast's eyes. Before the first two rounds even left the black guns, the crocodile swung its giant head to the right and Michael got an up close look at the inside of the mutated lizard's mouth. Blood and sewage along with Mark's black overcoat decorated the beast's teeth. One other item of interest caught the teenager's attention and he threw his guns back letting them hit the tunnel floor. Most of the smoke still swirled around the tunnel and when the crocodile's jaws snapped shut everyone lost sight of Michael.

"Lisa get up!" Cynthia begged her sister while shaking her bruised shoulders. Blood trickled down the side of the unconscious woman's mouth and tears seeped out from her eyes.

"We've got to get the hell out of here!" Frank screamed.

"No shit!" Richard replied.

"We're not going anywhere without Lisa!" Cynthia snapped at both men.

"Maybe _you_ aren't!" Richard corrected while grabbing the ladder.

"You heartless bastard!" Cynthia screeched.

"What the hell do you want me to do!" Richard protested.

"You could start by shutting the fuck up and carrying the woman up the ladder." Michael's cold voice flowed through the dark mist.

The three conscious adults all gazed up at the orange and black shirt covering Michael's brown skin. The crocodile stomped its way through the smoke and glared down at the fearless teenager.

Michael slowly stared up at the zombie lizard holding Mark's rocket launcher in his right hand and a spare rocket in the other. "You should really consider flossing out those pearly whites every now and then…some shit that gets in between those teeth can kill you." Michael ignored the crocodile's roars then ran to the right nearly escaping a flattened fate underneath the beast's foot.

Richard hoisted Lisa up over his right shoulder with Frank's help then started up the ladder. "God damnit, hot women should not weigh this much!"

"Shut up and climb!" Frank shouted.

"Come on bitch!" Michael challenged the crocodile while running up the wall again.

This time, Michael twirled himself off the wall and his jacket fluttered in the disrupted air current. The crocodile focused its right eye on Michael and watched as the young man slammed the back end of the rocket into the R.P.G and aimed the barrel of the device towards it. Unaware of the destructive power of the weapon being aimed towards it, the crocodile kept its eye on the flying human, waiting until he came close enough to devour. The rocket launched from the R.P.G and sliced through the creature's eye causing blood and other unrecognizable fluids to spray out in every direction. The following explosion shook the entire tunnel and blew off half of the crocodile's face. Michael flew back from one of the blast's shockwaves and hit the wall then slid down it. The crocodile zombie screeched and slammed the left half of its face into the left side of the tunnel wall causing the roof of the structure to crack and crumble. Blood gushed from Michael's mouth as he coughed and his gaze slowly rose to the tunnel ceiling.

"Ah…shit." Ignoring the sharp pains pulsing through every inch of his body, Michael grabbed the ladder and began climbing as fast as he could.

Michael managed to reach the center of the flat stairway before the dying zombie crocodile slammed its mutilated head into the ladder just above Michael's left hand and snapped the structure in half. Michael sighed as blood dripped from his mouth and his vision began to blur. He knew he only had one chance of making it into the hatch before the entire tunnel caved in on him. The ladder hit the oozing right side of the crocodile's head and the beast slung its body to the right launching the ladder along with Michael into the air. Michael reached out and grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder still attached to the tunnel and with all of the little strength he had left, pulled himself up into the hatch just before the tunnel ceiling collapsed, destroying the mutant crocodile. Thomas and Jacob grabbed Michael's left and right hands and pulled him up into the new area the eight survivors had discovered.

Michael collapsed onto a concrete floor. "I fucking hate lizards."

Linn smiled as she sat down beside Michael and lifted his back onto her legs, resting his head on her lap. "You hate everything."

"Not everything." Michael corrected and for a brief moment, the hazel brown ring around his eyes returned as he gazed into Linn's eyes. The black void returned as the exhausted teen lost consciousness.

"So, now what?" Jacob asked the group of survivors.

"When Michael and Lisa wake up, we keep looking for a way out of here." Thomas answered.

"Yeah I know _that_. What I meant was, how do we go about doing that?" Jacob asked.

"What do you mean?" Richard wondered.

"Well we lost over half of our weapons when Mark…" Jacob held his head down in silence.

"Hmm…I don't like the idea of a bunch of kids being the only ones with guns in a situation like this." Frank stated.

"Hey! These _kids_ just saved all of your asses!" Thomas shouted.

"Oh really? And what the hell did you do except run up that ladder like the rest of us?" Frank challenged.

"Well I didn't see _you_ shooting anything down there." Thomas snapped.

Linn gently wiped away some blood from Michael's lips and open head wound with a torn piece of her shirt. "Will you all stop arguing every time you think you're safe without a gun?"

"Easy for you to say." Richard fingered the gun tucked near the back of Linn's pants.

Linn sighed and pulled the weapon from her jeans. "Here." She slid the gun into the middle of the group. "Knock yourselves out." She gently ran her hand over Michael's hair while smiling warmly as the young man turned his head inward into her stomach. "It's ok. You can sleep as long as you want. Thanks to you we're all safe."

"It's mine!" Frank shouted.

"Gimme! Gimme that god damnit it's not fair I've never had a gun yet!" Jacob begged.

"No one cares about you, that gun is mine!" Richard shouted.

"Men…" Cynthia folded her arms and looked away.

Thomas pulled the chamber of his gun back, silencing everyone in the room. "Enough! Get the hell away from the gun. It belongs to Michael."

"What!" Jacob screamed.

"With Mark gone, he and I are the only ones that can handle a weapon better than the rest of you combined so just back the fuck off."

"Fuck you, I don't care how well he can shoot. He doesn't give a damn about any of us and he wouldn't hesitate to let one of us become some mutant freak's snack just to save a bullet!" Frank shouted.

"All true…but the fact remains that every bullet he shoots will be put to better use than any bullet you, or any of you shoot. The more zombies that fall, the better chance we all have of getting out of here." Thomas grabbed the gun from the floor and set it down beside Michael's unconscious form. "You can tell him it's from me." He winked at Linn who smiled back at him.

"This is ridiculous…" Frank protested.

"Shut up." Thomas ordered.

* * *

Steam fluttered above Michael's eyes. His gaze slowly rolled to the right bringing several darkened water heaters and black rusted water pipes into view. Michael's left glance harbored the same vision. _Boiler room…we're inside the tower._ _What's…what's that smell…? Never smelt anything so…nice. _His head turned in the direction of the scent and a small belly button decorating the center of a soft enticing tummy filled his vision.

"You're finally awake." Linn smiled.

Michael glanced around and noticed he was lying on the floor, cuddled in Linn's arms. "Giant crocodile…"

"It's gone, you killed it remember?" Linn caressed Michael's forehead.

"This is all _very_ heart warming but…can we get the hell out of here?" Frank shouted.

Michael spotted the gun lying near his leg then retrieved it from the floor and stood to his feet. "Listen you old smelly wet farting wrinkly dusty brick shit laying _asshole_!" He pulled back the chamber and centered the barrel on Frank's forehead. "If I hear just _one_ more question, answer, shout, or even a _grunt_ from you with the word hell in it I'm going to send you there and laugh the entire time I do it!"

"You little son of a bitch…I'm not afraid of some punk kid who gets off on pushing other people around!" Frank shouted.

"Gets off? Mutha fucka when the fuck have you seen me get off?" Michael snapped.

"I don't think any of us should be talking about seeing the other get off…" Linn suggested.

Michael glanced at Linn then glared at Frank. "Just keep away from me aight?"

Linn stared at Michael for a handful of moments waiting for one of his rude sexual remarks at her expense but the joke never came. A hint of confusion crept onto her face, as she couldn't understand what was wrong with Michael and why she was bothered when he didn't sexually harass her. _Shouldn't I be __**glad **__he isn't paying so much attention to me anymore?_

"So what's the plan?" Thomas glanced at Michael.

"You're asking me?" Michael wondered.

"Well usually when faced with one life threatening situation after the other." Thomas scratched the back of his head with the barrel of his gun. "I usually tend to wanna know the thoughts of the guy who took out two giant zombie mutants by himself."

Michael shrugged at the answer. "Wrong guy man…we all happened to be going in the same direction and I shot at the same shit you did."

"Well what direction are you going in now?" Thomas asked.

_The same direction she is._ Michael's reply played out in Linn's mind.

"Whichever direction has a door." Michael replied.

Again Linn stared up at Michael with confusion in her eyes then lowered her gaze to the floor. _Did I hurt him that much?_

A low groan flowed from Lisa's throat out of her mouth into the group of survivors' ears.

"Lisa!" Cynthia knelt down beside her sister and held her up in her arms. "Are you alright?"

Lisa slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings then gasped as control over her mind returned to her. "Mark? Mark!"

Cynthia hid her gaze from her sister as the brunette woman stood to her feet.

"Mark! Where's Mark!" Lisa frantically searched the broiler room while tears streamed down her cheeks. "Where is he god damnit!"

"He's dead! Will you shut up with the screeching already!" Michael snapped.

An overwhelming amount of rage, hate, and devastation exploded inside of Lisa as an image of the giant crocodile devouring the unfortunate mercenary flashed in her mind. Her eyes sharpened then settled on Michael. "You…"

"Ah shit…" Michael managed to breathe out before Lisa grabbed him by his coat and slammed him against one of the water heaters.

"Bastard! It's your fault he's dead! If you hadn't ran at that thing like an idiot then Mark wouldn't have tried to save your worthless life!" Lisa screeched.

Linn's eyes widened as she noticed Michael's finger slide over his gun's trigger. _Michael no…_

Michael's dark eyes harbored no pity for the hysterical woman shouting at him and in an instant the barrel of his gun was pressed firmly against her forehead. "Look lady, I don't give a fuck about whatever it is you too had goin' on and I don't give a fuck about who he was trying to save." His eyes briefly centered on everyone in the room. "In fact, all of you should just stay the hell away from me when one of those things attacks. Stay away from me altogether…you'll live longer."

Lisa trembled uncontrollably as she glared at Michael. "What's the matter with you…?"

"Hey! Get that gun _off_ of my sister!" Cynthia demanded.

"Yeah you psycho!" Richard added.

Frank glared at Thomas. "You still think it was a good idea to give _him_ the gun?"

Thomas shook his head in bewilderment trying but failing to understand the situation. "I…I…"

Michael held Lisa's head up by her chin with his thumb and the side of his finger. "He's dead, but you're not. You lost consciousness but you didn't die. He wasn't your soul mate. So get over it. Now let me go."

Lisa's eyes widened as she gazed into Michael's eyes for a handful of moments before she finally let him go. Michael walked past the group of humans towards a door on the far right side of the broiler room. As he passed Linn, she kept her eyes focused on the back wall of the room. She felt an even darker presence from him than she did back outside the factory. Her body turned as Michael's aura passed through hers and a small tear seeped out from behind her right eye then evaporated on her cheek. Cynthia put her arms around her sister as the broken woman released all of her devastation into her sister's shoulder.

"Michael, could you wait a second until we're all ready to leave?" Thomas asked.

"No." Michael replied.

"Please…" Linn asked softly.

Michael sighed then turned pressing his back against the door.


	6. Umbrella Headquarters

**Chapter Six:** **Umbrella Headquarters**

Michael gripped the doorknob tightly then quickly opened the door holding up his gun for protection. Slowly he stepped out into the brightly-lit hallway. "Right…" He tucked the gun back into his jeans and took a few step towards the right end of the hall.

Linn emerged from the broiler room next followed closely by Cynthia and Jacob. Lisa, Frank, Thomas and Richard all crowded into the hallway glancing around for any signs of danger. Linn took a few steps towards Michael then suddenly found herself following him down the hall. She quickly turned the corner chasing after him then stopped, almost running into his back.

"You're still following me." Michael spoke silently.

"You said I could…as long as I can keep up." Linn's voice was soft and silent.

"Why?"

"We have a better chance of surviving if we stay together."

"I can't protect you."

"You've already protected me so many times."

"I can't anymore…"

"Why?"

"I can't keep you alive if I don't want to live."

Linn shuddered as she again found herself holding back tears. "Michael…I'm sorry…I…"

"Don't apologize for being true to your feelings. Go back to the others. You'll have a better chance of surviving."

"But…you're a more powerful warrior than any of them…"

Michael laughed weakly at Linn's remark. "A warrior? If I was ever a warrior…I'm a broken warrior now."

"And you still managed to defeat that crocodile…and that armored zombie."

Michael turned to Linn and his devastated expression faced her fragile expression. "What do you want from me? What if you stay with me, and we do make it out of here? What then…we exchange phone numbers? Visit each other on Christmas and Thanksgiving? Do the whole long distance buddy thing?"

Linn's lips quivered as she spoke. "I…I just want you to be happy. I don't want you to die."

"I've never been happy in my entire life…I almost was…happiness isn't for me."

"Michael…"

"Hey!" Jacob shouted.

"There you guys are." Thomas added.

Linn wiped her eyes and Michael's blank expression returned to his face.

"Hey, it looks like this place is pretty much zombie free." Richard stated.

"How stupid are you?" Michael wondered.

Frank nodded while Richard frowned. "For once I agree with you."

Michael turned about to continue down the hall when Frank held his hand up. "Wait. There's an elevator down the other hall."

"I don't care." Michael replied.

"There might be a chopper on the roof." Jacob suggested.

"It _is_ one of those type of buildings." Thomas added.

"And it's devoid of all human life except our own which means if there was a chopper, it's gone now." Michael concluded.

"It's a better idea than wondering around this place looking for nothing." Cynthia said coldly.

"Maybe." Michael replied.

Cynthia sighed in distaste with Michael and turned heading down the other hall towards the elevator with Lisa close behind. Jacob and Thomas followed the two women after a handful of moments and disappeared around the corner. To Linn's surprise, Frank and Richard stayed with her and Michael.

"You're staying?" Linn wondered.

"He's right." Frank admitted.

"The people in charge would have already taken all of the choppers." Richard added.

The hallway that lay ahead split to the left and right and Frank made sure he went down the hall opposite to the one Michael chose. "But I still don't want anything to do with him."

Linn shook her head as Richard followed Frank down the right hall then stepped up beside Michael as he took the left hall. "So what are we looking for?"

"The stairs." Michael answered.

"Huh?" Linn blinked.

"I just wanted everyone to leave me alone." Michael admitted.

Through all of her unsettling feelings, Linn found herself giggling again thanks to the man beside her.

"I guess we're screwing up your plan then." Thomas's voice bounced off the tower's metal walls into Michael and Linn's ears.

Michael turned and the sight of Jacob and Thomas did nothing to his blank expression. "Great…"

"I thought you two were going to the roof." Linn stated.

"Nah…we have a better chance of finding a boat in the basement than a chopper on the roof of this place." Jacob joked.

* * *

"I can't believe he's gone…" Lisa whimpered.

"Lisa…Mark was an arrogant jerk." Cynthia said then glanced at her sister. "But somehow you managed to feel something for him…" Lisa's blank stare remained focused on the end of the hall as her sister spoke. "You have to let him go…we never really knew anything about him. We don't know anything about _any_ of these people."

Lisa shuddered as she exhaled the deep breath she was holding. "I knew him."

* * *

"Why did we decide _against_ taking the elevator again?" Richard asked.

"Do you really think there's a helicopter on the roof of this place?" Frank wondered.

"Maybe the company heads didn't make it to the roof?" Richard suggested.

"Get away from me." Frank ordered.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Richard frowned.

"Walk on the _other_ side of the damn hall." Frank snapped.

A loud hiss caught both men's attention stopping their advance down the hall.

"What the hell was that?" Frank wondered.

"I don't know…sounds like some kind of gas pipe or something." Richard stated.

"Uh…" Frank's hand rose and his finger centered on a large reptilian shadow crawling along the wall around the corner. "I don't think it's a pipe."

Richard's eyes widened and he immediately ran to the side of the hall towards one of the silver painted doors.

"Wait…!" Frank whispered as loudly as he could.

"Why?" Richard's shout was at whisper level as well.

"There could be anything hiding out in these rooms." Frank pointed out.

"I'll take anything over a giant lizard thing any day!"

Frank thought for a few seconds then nodded. "Good point."

Both men hurried into the pitch-black void behind the silver door.

* * *

"Lisa get a hold of yourself." Cynthia pleaded.

"I can't…" Tears continued to fall from the broken woman's eyes.

Cynthia glanced over the papers inside the brown portfolio she held over a large brown desk. "R-Virus huh?"

**File**

**Fredrick Factory Progress Report 1190**

These progress reports are addressed to Monica Tillman

**Nemesis Reconstruction:** Our scientists stationed inside the ruins of Raccoon City have begun work on recovering cell samples of the more promising experiments conducted near and throughout the city. Reports from the Nemesis control team indicate that contact with the weapon was lost during an encounter with a surviving S.T.A.R.S member, Jill Valentine, near the main hazardous waste disposal unit inside the classified laboratory located inside the abandoned factory. A highly acidic substance pumped from one of the pressure valves disrupted the live video feed implanted inside the weapon. Soon after every monitoring sensor save one audio recorder implanted throughout the weapon's body was destroyed. The final sound recordings of interest took place near what the control team unanimously agreed to be the storeroom for the rail gun prototype. The final recording they took from the city before its destruction were these seven words. "You want stars? I'll give you stars." A loud gunshot followed this statement.

Our bio recovery team retrieved several cell samples from the storeroom and sent them to us. We have begun work on reconstructing the Nemesis subject by injecting the cell samples into test subject 409. The G strain virus spread fast through the subject's bloodstream but unfortunately killed the woman before any substantial mutations took hold. We believe that the reformation of the Nemesis may only be successful if the subject exposed to the Nemesis strain has been infected with the T and or G strain's of the virus prior to being subjected to the Nemesis strain. Further testing must be performed before any viable results can be obtained.

**R-Virus Strain-Dr. Edward Swanson:** I am aware that several scientists throughout the corporation have attempted to create the next miracle strain that surpasses the success of the G strain. I am no different in this attempt and hopefully I will have better luck than my predecessors did.

As you know I believe that the key to creating the ultimate bio-weapon is not found solely in the strength that Birkin's G strain bestowed. Instead I believe that if we start with what nature has given us and build on it rather than mutating it we can go farther than Spencer ever dreamed. Imagine if you will a soldier with all of the physical advantages of your average T strain victim and the ingenuity of the Nemesis. Take one step further if you will and imagine this creature having virtually no weaknesses, even to decapitation or incineration. The R strain, which I have dubbed _Reaper_, boosts the body's natural regenerative properties to near supernatural levels.

**End File**

"What is wrong with these people?" Cynthia wondered.

After a brief search of the small office, Lisa and Cynthia exited the room back into the hallway.

A loud buzzing sound caught Cynthia's attention. "Lisa…look." She pointed to the tower's metal ceiling. "A camera."

Lisa slowly gazed up at the light silver colored device turning from the left to the right. "What about it?"

"It's still working. Don't you know what that means?" Cynthia shouted.

"I don't care…" Lisa stated.

"Lisa…" Several silent clicks distracted Cynthia from her sister. "What…?"

Both women stopped in the middle of the hall and turned trying to find the source of the sounds. As their backs turned to the right wall the metal plating in between two doors slid back to the left and four decaying arms grabbed both women. The two brief yelps that escaped the terrified women were drowned out by an unnerving sound of skin being ripped from its bones.

The camera lens rolled to the right stretching out towards the dark void behind the wall then retracted with a silent buzz.

On the other side of the silver camera, a dark form cackled in front of a dimly lit TV monitor.

* * *

An undead former corporate employee of the Umbrella headquarters growled as she stumbled out of the black void generating behind an opened door inside the tower hallway. One well-placed punch launched the woman back into the darkness. Michael disappeared into the void while Thomas, Linn, and Jacob waited outside. After a handful of moments the large cylinder light bulbs scattered around the ceiling of the room flashed on. The undead middle aged woman rose to a crouched position and glared up at Michael while blood streamed down her chin. A loud growl escaped her mouth before she leapt ten feet across the room towards her potential meal.

Michael slowly lifted his gun into the air and two seconds later the zombie flipped backwards three times then landed face first onto the metal floor of the large office room. Michael held the smoking barrel of his gun up close to his left cheek for a moment before letting his arm fall to his side. "Ho…"

"Do you have to be so rude? I mean the woman's dead." Thomas glanced at the still form of the unfortunate Umbrella employee then turned to Michael. Suddenly the suited woman rose to her feet, wrapped her arms around Thomas's chest, then sunk her teeth deep into the side of his neck. "Juuuaaooo!" Thomas grabbed his gun and fired a round into the woman's head. "Bitch!" He put three more bullets into her chest until her body stopped twitching and a pool of blood spread around her. "Fucking bitch!"

"Now who's being rude?" Michael said carelessly.

Thomas stared up at Michael with a hint of shock then decided to put all of his attention on his new wound. "God damnit!"

"Oh god Thomas!" Linn ran over to him to get a better look at the wound.

"You gonna shoot him now too?" Jacob wondered.

"No. But I'm gettin' real close to shootin' you though." Michael replied.

Jacob backed away with his hands up in surrender. "Point taken."

"Here this should help." Linn sprayed Thomas's neck with the last first aid spray can she pulled from his knapsack.

"There's only one thing that can help me…and that's all the way back at that damn factory." Thomas sighed.

"Hey you don't know that. There could very well be an antidote here too." Linn suggested.

"Not likely. This place is where people in suites suck dick and sign papers not experiment with deadly chemicals." Michael stated.

Linn sprayed Michael's face with the small amount of medicine still in the first aid spray can with an annoyed frown on her face.

"Ah damnit! Okay, okay stop it!" Michael waved his hands in front of his face.

"What did we come in here for anyway?" Jacob asked.

"I'm bored." Michael answered.

"What? I'm gonna turn into a zombie because you got bored!" Thomas shouted.

"I told you all not to follow me." Michael answered.

"Um…no you didn't." Jacob pointed out.

"Well it was fucking implied." Michael shot back.

Thomas stepped across the room and punched Michael across the mouth with all of his anger and fear. "You son of a bitch!"

Michael stumbled back and hit the floor beside the dead zombie. "Yeah she's a bitch all right…"

Linn stepped in front of Thomas. "Hey calm down! No one is turning into a zombie!"

"Hey I got a question." Jacob raised his hand.

Michael stood back to his feet. "What do you want now?"

"You shot that woman in the chest, near her heart." Jacob stated.

"Yeah so?" Michael wondered.

"Well I'm no scientist so correct me if I'm wrong but…shouldn't there be a bullet wound near her heart…?" Jacob asked.

Michael examined the lifeless body on the floor along with the rest of the teenagers in the room. All of the bullet wounds except for the one Thomas placed on the woman's head were completely healed.

"What…how is that possible…?" Linn thought back to the file she read in the factory. "Oh my god…the R-Virus."

"The what?" All three men asked in unison.

"You see if you two had read that file with me you'd know what I'm talking about." Linn grinned triumphantly.

Michael and Jacob rolled their eyes.

Thomas took a step towards Linn. "Hey. What's rolling around in my bloodstream, Linn?"

"Um…some new virus some guy named Dr. Swanson created. When you're infected you mutate into a zombie but you don't decay. Instead you become all cannibalistic like the other zombie's except you can only be killed if your brain is destroyed."

"Well that sounds about right. We make it past the rotting freaks and now we have to deal with some…some…shit I still don't know what the fuck that thing is." Michael pointed down at the dead zombie woman.

"Oh! Also if you fight one of them their brains assimilate all of the moves you use and allow them to use them too." Linn added.

"Kung fu freaks…" Michael stated.

"Only if they fight someone who knows Kung fu." Jacob pointed out.

"Well…I wouldn't know anything about that. My specialty is Thug fu." Michael smirked.

"What?" Thomas, Linn, and Jacob all asked, Linn with an amused smile on her face.

"Forget it, way too long to explain." Michael stated.

The Licker creature that crossed Frank and Richard's path suddenly leapt into the room and tacked Jacob to the floor.

"Mother fucker! Get this thing off me!" Jacob screamed.

Thomas and Michael both emptied their gun clips into the monster's back allowing Jacob to kick the beast off of him and roll to his feet. The licker squirmed on the ground then rolled onto its feet and turned to Linn, growling and hissing. Michael's eyes scanned the entire office in less than two seconds and in an instant his hands were wrapped around the handle of a large paper-cutting blade. He ripped the handle off of the device and spun around once swinging the blade upward slicing off the Licker's head. The half human half lizard monster's head flew past Linn's head and smacked off the back wall of the room and its body hit the floor and slid to a halt at the trembling woman's feet.

"What…just…happened…?" Linn managed to speak.

"I proved myself wrong. I can keep you alive." Michael answered.

Linn ran over to Michael and tightly wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you!"

Michael froze as Linn's body pressed firmly against his own. Her sweet scent pulled his hands closer to her back but he refused to give into his emotions, knowing they wouldn't be returned. "Hey…let's get out of here before another one of those freaks rolls up in here aight."

Linn sniffled then let go of Michael. "Ok…"

Thomas rubbed his wound covered in the spray can medicine. "Damnit…"

"We're heading for an elevator _now_?" Jacob asked.

"I told you why I didn't in the first place." Michael replied.

"So you _do_ think there's a helicopter on the roof?" Thomas wondered.

"No." Michael replied.

"So…why?" Linn asked.

"I'm not going to check the roof." Michael stated.

"What?" Jacob asked.

"Look, will you all shut up with the questions? If you're gonna roll with me then just roll with me. Don't ask me where I'm rollin' aight?" Michael spat out.

"What?" Jacob asked.

Michael pulled back the chamber of his gun, intending to shoot Jacob, but kept it lowered after Linn put her hand over his. The hallway stretched out for over eighty feet and reaching the end seemed like a futile attempt. Finally after what seemed like hours, the four teenagers reached the end of the hallway and the two elevators located on the back wall. Michael hit the down button on the elevator and waited for something to happen. A brief chime echoed in the young teens' ears before the right elevator door slid open revealing a small room filled with over ten undead ex corporate employees. They all slowly turned and faced the live flesh in front of them.

Michael leaned back a little then nodded with a nonchalant expression on his face. "Sorry, we're closed." He shot the first zombie that attempted to step forward, causing his gun chamber to click and allowing the elevator doors to close.

All four teens sighed in annoyance then readied themselves as the left elevator doors opened revealing an empty room.

"Thank god." Linn sighed in relief.

They all stepped in and waited for the doors to close. Michael rocked his head back and forth in unison to the beats of the song silently playing in the background of the elevator with a small grin on his face.

"Gator boots? What the hell is a gucci?" Jacob asked with genuine confusion covering his face.

"Jacob…dawg…how out of touch with society are you? I've spent all of my life avoiding people and even I know…nevermind…" Michael sighed in annoyance.

"I love hip hop songs." Linn giggled.

Thomas and Jacob both stared at Linn with shock in their eyes.

"What?" Linn innocently glanced at both of them.

"That's right, she's a Thugette." Michael smirked.

"A what?" Jacob shouted.

Michael pointed his empty gun at Jacob and pulled the trigger a few times. "Die you…die…die!"

Jacob slammed his back against the wall and slid to the left and right trying to avoid the harmless weapon while Thomas and Linn laughed loudly.

Five minutes passed and the four teenagers all stood impatiently waiting for the elevator doors to open.

"Hey…anyone notice the elevator's not moving?" Jacob asked.

Thomas smashed the button for the lowest level to the tower over and over again with no response. "Now what the hell is going on?"

Michael kicked the elevator doors out of frustration. "Hey! You fucking Umbrella assholes! Enough with this puzzle shit! Let us out!"

"So rude…" An eerie high-pitched voice cut in over the elevator music.

"What the fuck…?" Michael glanced around the small room.

"I don't think this is going to end well." Thomas stated.

"What's going on?" Jacob slammed his fist against the large metal doors.

"My experiment, that's what!" The voice replied.

Before any of the teenagers could say anything else a small circular hatch opened near the top of the back wall of the elevator. A yellow mist sprayed out from the hole and filled the small room with a gaseous haze. Michael punched the elevator doors repeatedly trying to break them down. Linn fell to her knees while covering her mouth and nose with her right hand. Thomas tried desperately to reach the emergency hatch constructed into the top of the elevator. His hands trembled for a handful of moments before his lungs finally succumbed to the noxious gas. Jacob had fallen before the rest of the group and lay still on the floor with Thomas and Linn. Michael continued his futile attempts to break down the doors until his body finally wavered and his back hit the floor next to Linn.

The hi-pitched voice cackled over the elevator music.


	7. Evil Resident

**Chapter Seven:** **Evil Resident**

Disoriented human senses slowly came back into focus. Steam and other gaseous liquids echoed around the dark void surroundings Michael's eyes. A few feet in front of him, he could hear water bubbling inside some sort of container. Below him, bleeps and hums flowed from hi-tech machinery. _Ok body…how many times are we gonna have to go through this? When I want something done, you get it done. I want my eyes open…so open them!_ As his eyes shot open, five large incubation chambers, each with its own unfortunate human and or animal victim, came into view. Michael's eyes caught a glimpse of a shady white figure moving in between the chambers. A hard tug with his right arm revealed his wrists and ankles to be confined by two sets of bulging chains. _Whatever_. Michael sighed and waited for whoever was approaching to come into view. A white, blood and dirt stained coat filled Michael's vision. The man inside the tattered garment was shriveled and weak with long black hair that extended just below his chin. His green eyes rose to meet Michael's black pupils.

"Where's Linn?" Michael barely had the strength to put his anger behind his question.

"She could be dead." The ragged scientist smiled maniacally. "Depending on which one of these lovely ladies you are referring to." He held his hands up pointing to Michael's left and right.

Michael turned his head to the left and Linn's girlish form came into view. "Mutha…" He gasped at a sudden lapse of pain surging through his body. "What…what the fuck did you do to us?"

"You…I sedated with enough tranquilizer to put down an elephant. The others…well the others are of little value to me." The scientist replied as two undead humans silently stepped up behind him. He smiled again at the small glint of hope in Michael's eyes. "Have you met my friends, Dr. Swanson and his lab assistant, Dr. Ferguson?" The zombies stopped at Michael's host's side and remained silent.

Michael glanced at the two undead men. All of their clothes except for their pants had been removed. "You three plannin' some gayfest later or what?"

"Of course not, I'm a respectable scientist and these are two of my experiments." The scientist grinned. "And…so are you."

Michael didn't bother glancing to his right, he could smell the death in the air and hear what he assumed was blood dripping on the floor. "You know what…?" It was obvious what was going to happen next. "Just get on with it."

Bernard's cackling echoed with the release of the rattling chains restraining Michael's disoriented body. The two undead scientists carried Michael down a set of metal grated stairs to a rusted blood stained steel table. This loud noise stabbed through Linn's ears into her unconscious mind.

_Wha…? What's going on?_ Linn thought as she slowly began to regain consciousness. _What's that smell..?_ An image of herself falling onto a large sharp glass shard on the abandoned factory floor. _Wait…I know that smell. Open eyes…open! Oh god why can't I feel my arms or legs! I can't even feel myself breathing! Why? Why can't I feel my body!_ Slowly, dead air flowing in and out of the young woman's nostrils began to revive her senses and her eyes unexpectedly shot open. Her blurred and disoriented gaze turned from the left and right. _I'm alive….where am I?_ A grotesque crimson image began to form as her eyesight focused.

"…Oh my god! Lisa!" Linn's eyes widened, taking in the full sight of Lisa's deformed corpse.

Over twenty long tubes were connected through hundreds of cuts and tears decorating the unfortunate woman's body. Blood and other fluids shot through the tubes into the many machines spread throughout the second floor of the laboratory. Linn closed her eyes and allowed them to open only after she was sure her head faced the opposite direction. This time, her eyes took in the sight of two large engine powered boats and one small speedboat floating in a small harbor connected to the lab. Once again Linn allowed an emotion she swore she'd never feel again creep its way into her heart. Hope flickered behind the water surrounding her eyes. As quickly as this hope arose however, a close friend's agonized screams shattered her resolve and sent her back into a world she never wanted to revisit. _Michael!_

Dr. Thompson grinned maniacally as he cut, poked, and probed Michael's wounded body with a wide assortment of scapulas, plastic tubes, and jagged knives. The immense pain surging through Michael's body forced another loud agonized scream from him before the overwhelming shock and stress made him lose consciousness. Bernard continued his work, mercilessly and carelessly cutting open Michael's skin and inserting the life absorbing tubes into his muscles, veins, and bones.

Linn stretched her neck to the far right and barely caught a glimpse of Bernard standing over Michael's lifeless body. "Michael!"

Bernard's sadistic gaze rose from Michael, and the round electric powered saw he held over the fallen warrior came to a halt. "Hmm…and who might that be?"

Linn gasped as Bernard and his two undead assistants stopped in front of her after quickly climbing the metal staircase. "Those…what? How are you not being eaten right now?"

Bernard ran his bloody hand along Linn's arm. "Your skin…so soft."

"Hey!" Linn struggled with her chains. "Get away from me you sicko!"

"Sicko?" Bernard mockingly laughed at the insult. "Take her to the second table!" His commanding glare centered on the two undead scientists behind him.

"Wait! No!" Linn screamed.

Thomas's consciousness quickly returned to him at the sound of Linn's screams. "Wha…what the hell?" His arms strained against the tightened chains.

"No! No please…no!" Linn begged.

Infuriated from what he heard, Thomas continued to struggle with his restraints while frantically searching for something he could use to free himself. "Hey!" Unable to find anything, he hoped that a distraction would be enough to give Linn enough time at a chance for survival.

"Listen you ugly pencil necked troll nosed freak!" Thomas challenged.

Bernard glared at the brave but foolish man chained to the wall in front of him. "Are you expecting some form of help to arrive? I have captured all of you…and unfortunately for you…I'm all out of operating tables." Bernard backed away towards the stairs, giving each one of his undead slaves a bloodthirsty glance. As he vanished down the metal grated passageway, the zombie scientists both growled as they stepped towards the helpless human.

Linn managed to get her breathing under control and slowly turned her head to the right. "Oh my god…." The same as Lisa, Michael's body was littered with tubes and his bodily fluids were being run through a large super computer.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Bernard stepped up beside the two operating tables. "I looked over the documents you've all collected so I'm sure you must know by now what our friend Michael is."

Tears built up behind Linn's eyes as she gazed out at Michael. "Yes…but…what does that have to do with anything?" She glared at Bernard. "Why are you doing this to us!"

"To you?" Bernard smiled. "Because I can my dear…but…" His gaze turned to Michael. "He…is a different matter. He is my greatest creation. But unfortunately he is one of a kind. I was never able to reproduce my creation. They thought they had me on a short leash, but my experiments continued and with one failure after the next…I became impatient."

Linn's eyes widened and her latent tears sparkled. "It was you! You caused all of this!"

"Yes, yes it was! But I don't think you realize how deep my involvement in your activities has gone." Bernard's maniacal grin centered in front of Linn's shocked gaze. "Your escape from the prison was no chanced fate and your travels through the island were directed by me! It was my assistant who blasted your bio-engineered boyfriend back in Harborville Town! Since then my undead agents have been helping me monitor your progress."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Linn shouted.

"I'm going to find the secret to his strength. My dear I don't think you realize just what it is lying next to you!" Bernard chuckled.

"Yes I do! His name is Michael! And he's my friend! And if you don't let us go right now he's going to kill you!"

"Yes he will be killing many…perhaps even you, but not me. Michael's D.N.A somehow merged with the T Virus and the G Virus. No…it took control of them and made them his own. He would be dead now like that woman upstairs if it weren't for that. His strength is beyond that of any human…"

"He _is_ human you freak!" Linn snapped.

Bernard laughed loudly at the statement. "Maybe I should inject him with one of the viral antidotes and we'll both see how human he really is."

"You monster..." Linn's tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Hey what the fuck do you smelly bastards think you're doing! Get away from me! No get away!" Thomas's shouts echoed from upstairs into Linn and Bernard's ears.

"No…" The scientist gazed up at the grated floor. "_Those_ are monsters."

"Thomas!" Linn gasped. She felt her world of friends crumbling around her and she knew there was nothing she could do. "Please stop this!"

"Why the hell would I want to do that?" Bernard laughed.

"Because if you don't." Richard's voice flowed viscously into Bernard's ears. "I'll put a hole way more useful than your mouth on the back of your head with this gun!"

Bernard turned and hissed with an evil frown covering his face.

"Whoa what the fuck!" Richard flinched, taken aback by the inhuman hiss.

"Just shoot him already!" Frank ordered.

Bernard darted across the room while several bullets from Richard's gun ricocheted off of his equipment. "You won't stop my work!" He slammed a steel door behind him after exiting the laboratory.

Thomas's eyes widened at the site of the two undead scientists reaching out for him. "No!"

Two gunshots from Richard's gun silenced the zombies and put Thomas's fears at ease. "Get him down."

Frank nodded and grabbed a large remote device hanging on a wire by the chained prisoners. With a push of a button the chains retracted, freeing the once captive humans. Lisa's corpse hit the ground with a wet thud while Cynthia's pale form stumbled to the metal floor. Thomas hoped down from the wall and gave Frank and Richard a brief glance before running over to Cynthia.

"She's still alive, but we should inject her with the antidote just in case. Same goes for me. Where did that nasty freak put the green cure stuff anyway?" Thomas asked while lifting Cynthia up into his arms.

Linn gently pressed her body against Michael's and caressed his forehead with her right hand. "Everything's going to be ok…I don't know how but it has to be…" She couldn't help staring as Michael's wounds began to heal before her eyes.

Michael's eyes shot open suddenly and another loud agonized scream escaped him as his body pulsed with pain, pulling against his restraints. _It hurts…_

"Oh my god! Michael!" She stared up the metal stairs. "Someone help! We have to get these restraints off!"

Thomas, Frank, and Richard who was now carrying Cynthia ran down the stairs and spread out around the two tables.

"There has to be some kind of release button on that computer!" Richard shouted.

"Yeah but which one!" Linn screamed.

"Push them all!" Thomas ordered.

The metal restraints holding Michael were retracted into the table and the shockwaves of pain surging through his body forced him off the table and onto the bloodstained floor, ripping the tubes from his body. "Mutha fucka!" He screamed. "Mother fucker!" He stood to his feet. "Where is he!" His infuriated glare shifted around the entire facility. "Where is that rat faced dick licking goat humping piece of shit!"

Linn wrapped her arms around Michael's neck and firmly pressed her body against his. "You're ok!"

Michael's anger instantly subsided as he slowly wrapped his arms around Linn. "Linn I…he didn't hurt you did he?"

Linn smiled up at Michael. "Nope I'm fine."

"I couldn't…I couldn't protect you." Michael's hold on her loosened as he began to pull away.

"Michael it's ok." Linn slowly loosened her arms from Michael's neck.

"No it isn't. I told you I wouldn't be able to protect you. That following me would get you killed." Michael backed away from her.

"Hey…" Thomas turned around scanning the room. "Where's Jacob?"

"Get away from my experiment! All of you!" Bernard's hi-pitched voice echoed from several speakers constructed throughout the laboratory.

Michael glared at the walls of the establishment. "Where the fuck are you! I'm gonna…"

"Kill me in some grotesque fashion? Oh spare me your baseless threats." Bernard gloated.

Frank and Richard reminded the survivors of the three boats in the harbor behind them with several obvious bodily gestures then began running towards them. Before they reached the harbor, a massive metal wall slammed into the ground, cutting off their only escape from the island.

"No! God damnit!" Frank kicked the wall and then twitched and screamed as an electric jolt from the wall surged through his body then blasted him back eight feet.

Michael glared at the speakers as Bernard's loud cackling echoed throughout the laboratory. "Fucking lunatic…" He ignored Bernard's continued taunting as the door the mad scientist escaped through came into view.

Four seconds of Bernard's endless chatter continued until the locked steel door he escaped through blew back off its hinges from the force of Michael's fist slamming into it. Another hiss escaped the disturbed man as he again faced the few humans who managed to survive his island of nightmares. He stood in front of them on a slightly elevated steel floor that harbored more super computers similar to the ones in the harbor.

"I think it's time you fools finally realized just who it is you're dealing with!" The palm of Bernard's right bloody hand slammed down onto a bright red button.

The room the survivors entered was large and square shaped. The button Bernard pushed set in motion a series of loud clicks and clanks. Linn and Michael stepped back as a large section of the floor beneath them slid open and from it a rectangular platform rose from below. Three unsteady figures swayed from side to side on the steel platform. Two undead men dressed in torn and ravaged laboratory clothes snarled at the live humans in front of them along with an unfortunate undead woman with long dirt filled blonde hair.

"Two more of Umbrella's…_top_ minds in the bio genetics field joined by my late supervisor, Alyssa Morgan." Bernard stepped around the computer to its front center. "She…like the rest of the workers here all thought they had me under control…under _their_ control." He moved closer to the zombies as he spoke until he was directly behind Alyssa's corpse. His hand stroked the back of her head as she glared a hole through the small group of survivors. "As you can see…my revenge knows no bounds. No one escaped my wrath not even the company heads. But…as sweet as my victory was my revenge is still unsettled. I plan to spread my fury across the globe destroying everything Umbrella has ever touched."

"You fucking retard! Can't you take down Umbrella without destroying the world in the process?" Frank shouted.

Bernard's eyes sharpened and the pure evil reflected from him sent a chill down Linn's spine. "The world is of no concern to me…it's far more evil than I am. Whatever rises from the ashes of my destruction will be whatever fate has decided it to be." His yellow teeth flashed in the dim light as a maniacal grin spread across his face. "But in the meantime." His left hand pulled a small cylinder device from his bloodstained lab coat. "Witness the dawn…of the _reaper_ age!" His thumb firmly pressed down on the button constructed on the top of the device caused a small computer chip implanted in each zombies' skull to glow bright red. The undead humans snarled at the living people across the room. "Destroy them!" Bernard ordered.

Michael slowly turned his cold emotionless gaze to Thomas who was searching for a way out of the room besides the dead end harbor. "Yo. …Get her out of here."

The zombies charged the group of scattering humans. Michael stepped forward and fiercely planted his fist on Alyssa's left jaw and sent her flying halfway across the room. Thomas grabbed Linn's arm and lead her to the far right side of the room towards a black metal door. Frank, Richard, and Cynthia all followed them as the zombies' surrounded Michael.

"Come on you fucking muck mouthed…" Michael leaned back, nearly dodging a lethal lunge from one of the scientists then slid his foot off the ground spinning his body and roundhouse kicking the undead man into his undead colleague.

Alyssa remained perched on one knee silently snarling at the group of men fighting in front of her. Blood dripped down through her teeth onto the floor. Her eyes shifted from left to right with each movement Michael made. They kept watching him even as he broke apart one undead scientist and then used its remains to break open the other. Then her soulless eyes met Michael's soulless eyes and with another silent snarl her skin torn legs lifted her body up onto its feet.

Michael stared down the former Umbrella executive as he circled the room with her. "Hurry up bitch, I got freaks to kill. Freaks that are still alive and need to be dead."

Michael kept his defenses down as Alyssa darted across the room towards him. _Hurry up…whoa what the hell!_ Michael found himself guarding against a well-placed left hook intended for his right jawbone. He ducked then sidestepped to the right keeping his body low dodging a perfectly formed roundhouse kick.

"Bitch what the hell have you been smokin'?" Michael shouted as he backed away blocking move after move. _My moves…but how? How the fuck is that possible! I don't even have any moves! I don't follow any styles…but she still…she can still copy me._ Michael titled back slightly and caught Alyssa's fist firmly in his hand. "Alright then." His own fist broke off several bones inside of Alyssa's face pinning her body tot he ground.

Michael took a step back as the undead woman slowly rose from the floor. Several crackling sounds echoed from beneath her skin, as her broken bones and flesh mended before Michael's eyes. "Ah…shhh…"

Michael's words were cut short by a hard fist formed from Alyssa's right hand. The young man flew across the room and slammed hard into the steel wall. Before his body slid down to the floor Alyssa's hand wrapped firmly around his throat and held him up against the wall.

"O…ok bitch." Michael stammered while gasping for air. "Now you done gon' and got me pissed off." His right leg shot forward, slamming his foot into Alyssa's face, removing her head from her body. The zombie's grip loosened and Michael hit the floor with a thud. He grabbed his throat while coughing, taking large amounts of air into his lungs. Michael slowly rose to his feet then walked over to the zombie's head and picked it up. "Company head huh? I wonder how much head you gave to get where you're at." Michael's gaze turned to the decapitated corpse at the loud echo of bones crackling. The body twitched to its feet. "Oh come _on!_" Michael growled. "Bitch I'm holding your fucking _head!_"

Alyssa's body formed a new head identical to the one in Michael's hand and she shrieked at him with murderous intent.

"Right…" Michael turned and dashed towards the door the other survivors used.

* * *

"Wait…wait!" Linn forcibly removed her hand from Thomas's hand. "Stop!"

Thomas slid to a halt then turned to Linn. "What the hell for!"

"We have to go back for him!" Linn screamed.

"Are you crazy?" Frank shouted.

"There were only three of them! He can handle three!" Richard pointed out.

"What if they were infected with the R-Virus!" Linn turned towards the room they all escaped.

"The what?" Frank and Richard asked in unison.

"Lisa…" Cynthia whispered.

Frank stepped into the center of the group. "Look! We have to…"

Michael suddenly appeared running around the corner away from the square room. "Dead woman won't die! Dead woman won't die! Dead woman won't die!"

Alyssa appeared next, chasing down her prey growling and shrieking. Michael came to a sliding halt in the center of the survivors.

"Why the fuck won't that bitch die!" Michael shouted.

"It's the R-Virus!" Linn screamed. "You can only kill them by completely destroying their brains!"

"That a fact?" Michael's eyes locked onto a small monitor blipping with useless information. As Alyssa leapt into the air towards him his body glided to the side and his leg flew upward and slammed into the undead woman's face sending it crashing into the glass monitor. Electrical currents surged through the poor woman's head causing her entire body to violently convulse until finally orange flames consumed her, finally silencing her shrieks. "Dead now you fucking…" Michael turned his back to the ashes. "Forget it."

The six survivors all stepped through another steel door that lead out to an enormous catwalk that allowed them all a clear view of the tower's entrance lobby.

"Oh my…god…" Shock pulled all of the air from Linn's lungs.

Over one thousand undead citizens of the island crowded into the lobby of the tower. Hundreds of men and women above and below their teenage years groaned silently bumping into one another. Each of their white milky eyes scanning the area for any signs of live warm flesh.

Linn hugged into Michael, hiding her face from the death below her. "Why is this happening?"

It took all of the willpower Michael had left to resist putting his arms around the warm woman pressing her body against his. "It doesn't matter why. The only thing that matters is getting the hell out of here."

"Help!" A familiar voice echoed inside the survivors' ears.

The six humans stepped over to the edge of the railed catwalk and Jacob's form came into view. His hands tightly gripped the rails of the catwalk while the rest of his body hung over the immense crowd of zombies. Dirt sprinkled down from his clothes and shoes landing onto a few undead humans below him. The alerted dead men and women gazed up at the live flesh above them then reached out towards Jacob. The remaining corpses mimicked their undead kin and soon the entire zombie infested lobby was reaching out for Jacob who was quickly loosing his grip on the rails. Thomas and Richard grabbed Jacob's forearms and pulled him up onto the catwalk.

"Where the hell were you?" Thomas asked after Jacob began breathing normally again.

"I woke up before the rest of you did and made a break for it while those two zombies were carrying us towards the harbor. That weirdo told them to let me go and chain the rest of you up before you escaped too." Jacob explained.

Something caught Thomas's attention, movement in the corner of his eye. "Cynthia!" He darted to the edge of the catwalk and wrapped his arms around the unstable woman's waist.

"No! Let me go!" Water poured from Cynthia's eyes. "Lisa!" She stopped struggling and fell to her knees.

Michael sighed in annoyance then yanked Cynthia to her feet. "Look…" His eyes centered on hers. "Your sister's dead." He shook her violently. "Dead! That sick freak in a lab coat murdered her. And do you know what her spirit's doing right now? Frowning at you because you aren't trying to rip his fucking head off!"

Cynthia trembled in Michael's grip for a moment then suddenly, something happened to her. "Bernard…he killed her…" An uncontrollable rage burned behind her eyes. "That bastard killed my sister!" She glanced at the other survivors of the group, still restrained by Michael's grip. "What the fuck are you all staring at!" She wrestled herself free. "You get your hands off me! Let's go find that son of a bitch!"

Jacob stared at Michael. "Where did all that come from?"

"She was pissing me off so I just gave her a reason to live." Michael replied while watching Cynthia storm off towards the door at the other end of the catwalk.

"I didn't peg you as the spiritual type." Richard commented.

Linn grinned while holding back a giggle. "He's not. He doesn't even believe in spirits."

"How do you know?" Jacob turned his gaze to Linn.

"Well when we were trapped in that office room back in the factory we made love. And in the peak of our passion I saw deep into his personality through his eyes." Linn smiled adorably.

Michael stared at Linn for a handful of moments as everyone else remained silent. "…." His lips cracked and slowly formed a smile and then suddenly, a loud burst of laughter escaped him.

Linn began laughing as well and followed Michael as he started towards the end of the catwalk.

"…What the hell?" Thomas asked himself.

"Let's just get the hell out of here." Frank suggested.

The other survivors all nodded and walked off towards the end of the catwalk.


	8. Escape Attempt

**Author's Note: Well here it is. The end. I would like to thank everyone who read this story. A really big thanks goes out to you Prisonerksc2-303 for the reviews. Glad you liked the story (at least someone did o_o) lol. This was one of the first fanfictions I ever wrote and while it is not the first I have ever finished it is the first I have ever marked the COMPLETE button for on . So yeah...anyway on with the story...the end of the story!  
**

**Chapter Eight: Escape Attempt**

Michael stepped through another black metal door that led to a long darkened hallway inside the Umbrella tower. "This place is starting to piss me off."

"Hey, Michael." Richard called out.

"What?" Michael asked without turning or facing Richard.

"Here." Richard handed him the Baretta handgun he used to help free everyone from Bernard's torture devices.

Michael glanced at Richard and then at the weapon in his hand, then took the gun and stuffed it into his pants. He walked ahead of the group trying to distance himself from them. The sight of Linn, which once brought him comfort now only increased his frustration. Not because she angered him, but because he couldn't allow himself to be comforted by her because he knew that would lead to something he could never have and dealing with that would make him loose focus on the current situation.

"He gave you his gun?" Linn asked.

"Yeah." He glanced at her then stared back down the hallway. "Why I don't know. They should know by now they can't trust me."

Linn placed her hand on Michael's shoulder. "But they do." She said soothingly. "I think they're starting to understand like I do, that you're our best hope of getting out of here alive."

"What?" Michael asked, genuinely confused.

"They're starting to look to you as a leader, Michael." Linn replied.

"What!" Michael asked again.

Linn smiled and lowered her stare from Michael's gaze for a moment then returned her eyes to his. "It doesn't matter if you don't care for anyone. You can still…do incredible things." She gently caressed his chest with her hand. "I know that…there's darkness in your heart…a powerful darkness. But that power gives you the strength to destroy the evil in this place."

Michael reached out and caressed Linn's cheek with his hand. "There's only one person in this world I care for."

Linn smiled, holding back tears. "Michael…"

"Hey!" Jacob shouted as the rest of the group caught up to Linn and Michael.

"What is it?" Linn asked.

"I just thought of something. Something Thomas told me." Jacob said.

"What?" Michael asked.

"He said that weirdo killed everyone here. No one escaped." Jacob said.

"Yeah so?" Frank folded his arms.

"So that means that if there was any kind of corporate chopper on the roof…" Jacob started.

"No one was able to escape on it!" Richard shouted.

"All's we have to do is find a staircase or an elevator and we can get out of here!" Linn giggled.

A loud siren interrupted the survivors' celebration, a loud siren followed by a female voice. "Warning, self-destruct sequence has been initiated. Two minutes remain until total annihilation." The warning continued.

"Two minutes? We're dead!" Jacob shouted.

"Yesssss!" Bernard's voice crackled over the recorded warning. "Dead! Unless all of you come down to the lowest level of the tower!"

"You are nuts. I'm not going anywhere near you ever again!" Linn shouted at the intercom.

"Maybe _you_ aren't but I'm gonna kill that little freak!" Cynthia screamed.

Bernard's insane cackle echoed out of the intercom. "Then come and get me my dear! The elevator is just around the corner!"

"You hear that?" Richard's eyes remained glued to the end of the hallway. "Let's get out of this hell hole!"

The seven survivors all darted to the end of the hall then quickly turned the corner. They ran halfway down the next hallway then came to a sliding halt, stumbling over each other. The two large silver metal doors covering the small elevator room brought a bright glimmer of hope to a few of the survivors. Others harbored a murderous intent.

"I'm going to kill him…" Cynthia smashed the clear white button on the panel beside the elevator and the silver doors slowly slid open.

"One minute until total annihilation." The recording warned.

Jacob stared at the long line of numbered buttons on the large panel inside the elevator. "Well…up or down?"

"What kind of moronic question is that? Up you idiot!" Frank shouted.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Frank." Linn said calmly.

"Why the hell not?" Richard reached for the top floor button.

Michael's hand shot out and firmly griped Richard's wrist. "Because we have forty seconds before this entire building explodes."

Richard lowered his head in defeat. "Yeah…I know."

Jacob swallowed hard as his finger hovered in front of the fourth basement button. "This better be the last nightmare we have to deal with."

"Don't worry." Michael pulled back the chamber on his handgun. "It will be."

* * *

Bernard Thompson stared down the seven survivors of the undead war he unleashed upon the Umbrella Corporation owned island while his hand hovered over the deactivation control for the self-destruct sequence. "All of you…everyone except for my experiment get inside the chamber!" He pointed to the large octagon shaped glass chamber next to the super computer he stood in front of.

"Ten…nine…" The recorded voice continued.

Michael turned his eyes to Linn who was gazing up at him. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Linn smiled as the fear behind her eyes slowly vanished. "I know."

"Five…four…three…two…self-destruct sequence deactivated." The recording shut down along with the entire self-destruct sequence.

A large titanium door slammed shut, trapping six of the human survivors inside the chamber. Michael stood ten feet away from Bernard and the chamber, glaring a hole through the insane scientist. Linn stared out at the two with her hands pressed against the glass structure. Michael began walking towards Bernard. He managed three steps forward before Bernard's hand shot out over the self-destruct activation switch.

"That's far enough!" Bernard hissed.

"Look shit head, I don't know what the fuck it is you want from me but…" Michael started.

"Results you wretched little _bastard_!" Bernard growled.

"Well you would know, _dad_." Michael shot back.

Another amused cackle escaped Bernard. "If only I could have had the honor. But yes even though I wasn't the donor I suppose I am the closest thing you would have to…"

"Yo I was being sarcastic you fucking retard. Now get the hell on with this shit so I can kill you and leave!" Michael snapped.

Bernard's hand formed a fist and that fist violently slammed onto a large golden button located on the top left side of his super computer. "I realize now that there is only _one_ way to get what I want. I _will_ find out the secret of your DNA. Even if you have to be dead while I do it. I'll take your corpse and preserve it with chemicals and then slash and rip everything I need out of you!" Again a section of the steel floor slid back. This time however a large oval shaped capsule resting in a metal casing that wrapped around its bottom half. "Meet my latest creation!" Bernard gave the creature inside a toothy grin.

Inside the capsule a tall oversized man floated in suspended animation. His arms were folded and his muscles were three times the size of an expert body builder. His hair had deteriorated considerably and lost most of its color. Long white strands of hair lashed out slowly in all directions over his forehead. Even though they were closed, the unnatural form of his eyes could bee seen through the tank. The top half of his nose that harbored three nostrils was an unnatural connection between his eyes. His unclenched hands pressing against his chest harbored four-inch steel cutting claws.

Through all of these deformities, Linn could still recognized the man floating inside the tank. "It…it can't be…Todd?"

"Yes child…yet another lowlife who tried to overthrow the corporation and failed miserably." Bernard cackled.

"Wha…what did you do to him you monster?" Linn shouted.

"My dear do you not see the creature floating around in that tank and yet you still call _me_ the monster?" Bernard grinned.

"Mutha fucka I don't know what your damn problem is, but I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Michael shouted.

Bernard snarled as the glass portion of the capsule lowered into the metal platform and the creature that was once Todd Richards landed on the metal with a wet thud. Slow deep breaths flowed in and out of the monster until suddenly its eyes shot open and immediately centered on Michael.

"Die!" Bernard hissed.

Todd flashed a set of two-inch long fangs as he let out an ear-piercing roar causing everyone except Michael and Bernard to fall to their knees and or cover their ears.

"O…k." Michael raised his clenched fists and took a defensive stance.

"Hey!" Thomas shouted from inside the chamber. "Are you insane? That dude is twelve fucking feet tall and there aren't any gas cans or wrecking ball machines down here!"

"Michael!" Linn screamed. "That's…he helped me escape the prison! We have to try and help him!" She knew there was no possible way to help Todd but hoped someone would think of something instead of call her crazy.

"Are you crazy?" Cynthia snapped. "Whatever that thing is, it isn't Todd anymore!"

"Kill it and get us out of here!" Richard shouted.

"And just how the _fuck_, am I supposed to do that!" Michael shot back.

"Well _you're_ the super human!" Jacob screamed.

Michael glanced down at the floor for a moment. "I'm gettin' sick and tired of this shit…" _Why can't I just fucking die already…why can't she be safe all fucking ready so I can die god damnit!_ "Oh shit!" Michael's body lowered to the floor, nearly dodging Todd's claws. He planted his hand firmly on the floor then pulled his body to the side while extending his leg. A loud crack echoed inside the lab followed by a loud scream from Michael.

"Oh my…" Cynthia covered her mouth with her hands.

"Oh no…" Linn whispered.

Bernard's loud laugh rang in everyone's ears. "That's right! I knew that a situation might arise where I would need to terminate my most prized creation. I made sure that this lump of muscle here would be able to withstand the force of Michael's strength!"

Michael rolled from the left to the right favoring his wounded leg. "Mutha…" He gazed up at the monster towering over him and at the claws slashing down towards him. "Damnit…"

Linn froze at the disturbing moist sound of human flesh being penetrated by animal like claws. "…" _NO!_ She heard the word in her mind but nothing came out of her mouth.

"Michael…god damnit!" Thomas shouted.

"No! You have to get us out of here! I have to kill him!" Cynthia pounded on the glass chamber.

Michael found himself suspended in the air with three of Todd's five claws piercing through his body and out the other side. "Fucking…prick." Blood poured out from his mouth onto the floor.

Todd flung his hand to the side, tossing Michael into the glass chamber. A horrified expression overtook Linn's face as a large stream of blood splattered out from Michael's wounds as he slid down the glass onto the floor. Todd breathed deeply as his eyes slowly centered on Michael's dying body. Suddenly the chamber door slid open and everyone inside the small prison scattered out around the laboratory basement.

Bernard cackled silently with his hand over the chamber door control. "That's right guinea pigs…run."

Linn trembled as Todd stomped past her then fell to her knees beside Michael who was sitting up against the glass chamber wall. "Michael…" She wanted to comfort him, her hands hovered over his wounds but she dare not touch them. "I…I don't know what to do."

A weak chuckle escaped the dying teenager. "You could…" A mouthful of blood rushed up from his throat. "You could make a break for the elevator."

Linn smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I don't know how to fly a helicopter."

"Ah…nothin' to it. Just pull back on the stick and off you go." Michael struggled to breath.

"Don't tell me you've flown a helicopter too…" Linn forced herself to giggle so she wouldn't break down crying.

Michael pulled in another blood gurgled breath. "Well yeah…in several video games."

Linn couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Michael…you can't…you can't die."

"Linn…do you still have it?" Michael wheezed.

"What…?" Linn sniffled.

"You took all of those fucking tube things from the counter back in the factory." Michael coughed.

"Yes…the G-Virus." Linn replied.

"The purple one…that's one of the G-virus cures isn't it?" Michael stared at Linn's pocket.

"Michael…no…" Linn finally realized what Michael was thinking.

"I can't think of any other way I can get you out of here." Michael began struggling to keep his eyes open.

"No…there…there has to be another way!" Linn burst into tears.

"No! No! NO!" Richard shouted while frantically looking from the left to right as Todd towered over him. He was trapped near the far left corner of the lab between several incubation chambers and computers. "No…" His voice was strained after Todd wrapped his oversized hand around his neck.

Todd snarled as he stared a hole through Richard. His left hand held the helpless man up by the throat while his right hand pulled back. Linn turned her head and closed her eyes as another unnatural moist skin slashing sound echoed throughout the lab. The top half of Richard's body from the beginning of his shoulders remained held up in the air while the rest of his corpse hit the floor with a moist thud. Gallons of blood gushed out from the bottom half of his body and a terrified expression remained glued to his face even after Todd released him and his head slammed onto the floor.

"Linn…" Michael gazed up at Linn.

"Michael…" Linn gazed down at Michael.

"It's the only way."

Linn sniffled and slowly reached into her pocket. "Michael I…"

"Linn…" Michael breathed deeply. "I know that…you could never love me…"

"Michael I…!" Linn started.

"But I can at least make sure you can be with the dude who does make you happy." Michael's eyes closed and this time he couldn't open them.

"Michael…I…I don't want you to be unhappy…" Linn caressed Michael's cheek. She held the vial over his chest. After a few moments of hesitation she rammed the vial into his chest and pressed the button, releasing the G-Virus antidote into his bloodstream. "There's so much…you don't know…" Linn gasped as a large shadow enveloped her and Michael.

A second before Todd's massive claws slashed through Linn, Michael's fingers sunk deep into the bottom half of Todd's large forearm. Todd's arm shook violently as he tried without success to free himself from Michael's grip. Linn's eyes widened as the muscles beneath Michael's skin began to pulsate. Michael's eyes remained closed as his entire body began to shake. Suddenly Todd found the strength to fling Michael across the room. Michael's body twirled under his control and his right foot planted firmly against the back wall. His eyelids shot open, revealing two black pupils surrounded by bright yellow eyes. He launched himself off of the wall towards Todd. Michael covered the distance between himself and Todd in less than three seconds then planted his foot firmly onto the reporter turned mutant's face.

Todd's body spun to the side and flew across the room, crashing into one of the many super computers scattered across the room. Linn gazed up into Michael's eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks. Michael stepped closer to her and snarled as his mutated vision saw a warm live human trembling below him.

"Hey get away from her!" Thomas grabbed Michael's shoulder.

Michael's head snapped to the side and his eyes glared a hole through the human standing next to him.

"Michael…! No!" Linn gasped.

The back of Michael's clenched right fist slammed into Thomas's left jaw, sending him flying into the far right wall of the laboratory. Michael's murderous gaze returned to Linn, who still trembled on the floor below him. He slowly knelt down snarling. Just before he could act on his viral hunger, Todd's enormous form reflected off of the prison chamber and Michael lowered his head, avoiding a fate similar to Richard's then turned, slamming his fist into Todd's gut. Another hard punch and well-placed roundhouse kick caused Todd to stumble onto his back. Michael growled and quickly stepped over to the mutated giant as the monster rose to its feet. Michael pulled back his fist and growled loudly, punching Todd's stomach so hard his hand ripped through Todd's skin and out the other end.

Linn smiled as she watched Michael forcibly pull his fist back from Todd's gut.

Bernard casually paced from back and forth in front of his computer with an evil frown covering his face.

Michael took a step back, expecting Todd to fall over. Instead the colossal undead human regained his balance and growled at the mutated teenager in front of him as the large hole in his stomach quickly healed.

"No…" Linn shook her head in disbelief.

"Hey!" Jacob's voice rang in Linn's ears.

Linn turned her head to the young man standing over Thomas's near unconscious form. "Jacob?"

"We gotta get out of here!" Jacob shouted.

The entire time the survivors were trapped inside the laboratory, Cynthia had been glaring a burning hole through Bernard. A loud thud rang in her ears but her stare remained pinned to the mad scientist. Then, a loud clank captured all of her attention. Michael's body hit the floor hard and he slid a few feet towards Cynthia. The mutant teen sprang to his feet and charged the mutant giant, growling furiously. It wasn't the deadly fight that had pulled Cynthia's vengeful attention from Bernard. The handgun Richard gave to Michael lay only a few feet from Cynthia. Her eyes focused on the weapon and nothing else.

Todd lowered his hand and launched his claws in an upward motion towards Michael's gut. The giant monster snarled angrily as Michael grabbed his claws and held his arm in place. Before Todd could free himself, Michael's body began convulsing again, his bones cracked and his muscles reshaped, growing larger by the second. Linn's gaze rose as Michael's shadow grew until it engulfed her entire body. Michael's yellow eyes slowly rose as his transformation neared completion. His teeth sharpened, growing into long fangs. His fingernails also grew to within an inch of the size of Todd's claws. The two viral beasts both leapt back and readied themselves for an attack. They darted across the room towards each other roaring loudly then slammed their chests into each other. They slashed at each other, both of their arms slamming into the other. As they moved their feet stomped onto the floor shaking the entire laboratory.

Bernard's evil grin returned as he watched his two creations fight. He barely noticed the slender female creeping up behind him. The barrel of the black Baretta Cynthia carried centered on the side of Bernard's forehead. Bernard's eyes twitched at the sound of the gun's hammer clicking back.

"You…you murdered my sister." Cynthia's emotions were near their breaking point.

Bernard slowly turned his insane gaze to Cynthia. "And just what _you_ going to do about it?"

Linn turned her stare from the battle between the viral monsters at the loud bang from a nine-millimeter Berreta. She watched as skull and brain fragments beneath Bernard's skin splattered onto his supercomputer and the cold steel floor. Cynthia's heavy breathing quickened as she lowered the gun over Bernard's corpse and put three more bullets into his lifeless body. She then turned to the two monsters slashing deep wounds into each other. She raised the handgun and fired four of the last five bullets inside the fifteen round clip. One of the bullets ripped through Todd's left eye, briefly stunning the beast. Michael rammed all five of the claws on his right hand into Todd's gut then spun around, tossing him across the laboratory. Linn covered her head and lowered her body down to the side as Todd's body shot past her and slammed hard into the prison chamber. She gazed up at Cynthia with hope glistening behind her eyes.

"Cynthia! The button!" Linn shouted.

Cynthia let out another deep breath and her eyes centered on the chamber controls. Todd slammed his massive hands against the steel door of the chamber roaring angrily. Cynthia turned and what she saw widened her eyes.

"Linn!" Cynthia screamed.

Linn slowly gazed up at Michael, who's mutated form towered over her. "Michael…"

"Cynthia! Shoot him!" Frank ordered.

"No!" Linn shouted. She slowly stood to her feet never removing her gaze from Michael's gaze. "Michael…it's ok." Her lips formed a warm smile. "You saved me…you protected me."

Todd's left eye twitched as he continued to slam his body against the chamber. "L…lll…Liiinnnn!"

Linn ignored Todd's calls. She knew there was nothing anyone could do for him but she couldn't give up hope on Michael. Something inside her wouldn't allow it. "After all of that…you must have burned off almost all of the G-virus. Your immune system has to…"

Linn gagged as Michael's clawed hand wrapped tightly around her throat, lifting her into the air and slamming her back against the glass chamber. "No Michael…!" She gasped for breath. "You have to fight it…you have to remember…it's me…Linn."

"L…Linn…" Michael's voice was monstrously distorted.

"Yes. It's Linn." She tried her best to smile.

"Protect…Linn…" Michael's hand opened, and Linn slid down the chamber to the floor. Michael's body began to convulse again. Blood and vomit erupted from his throat out of his mouth and his muscles began to reshape. His bones cracked and he stumbled back, hitting the steel floor with a loud thud.

Linn slowly stood to her feet and walked over to Michael then knelt down beside him as his large mutated body cracked and shrank back to its original form. Her hand gently caressed his cheek as tears streamed down her face and her lips formed a warm smile. "My hero…"

Michael gasped while coughing up another spew of blood. "It's…it's about time."

Linn giggled as she lifted Michael's head onto her knees and held him close. "Well you defeat so many mutant monsters and a girl's bound to be impressed at some point." She tried her best to ignore the wounds Michael's battle with Todd left on him. She lowered him back to the floor. "Wait here for a minute ok?" She walked over to the super computer where Bernard's corpse lay motionless. She scanned the small tables and counters behind the computer and her eyes lit up as she saw several chemicals in small vials. "Blue for the virus, green for the anti-virus…and that's it!" She grabbed the vial with a clear chemical inside of it. "The R-Virus has got to be clear!"

"The what?" Cynthia asked while watching Linn dart past her.

"Hey! Linn are you out of your mind?" Jacob shouted. "Putting viruses in Michael so far has not brought about anything good!"

"Thomas!" Linn ignored Jacob and tossed the anti-virus to Thomas.

"Yes!" Thomas shouted.

Linn knelt beside Michael again. "Michael…I'm not gonna let you die."

"Linn…" Michael said weakly.

"Yes…?" Linn caressed Michael's forehead.

"What is with you and sticking me with viruses?" Michael tried to laugh but coughed instead.

Linn giggled then sniffled. "You're gonna be ok…I don't know how but I just know you're going to be ok!"

"Cool…I'm done arguing with you…no point. Whatever Linn wants, Linn gets." Michael smirked.

Linn pressed the vial against Michael's chest and injected him with the R-Virus. "Please work…please…please.""

Michael's body began convulsing again and Linn held on to him tightly. Suddenly Michael's body went limp and he lost consciousness. Five minutes of uneasy silence passed before finally, Michael's wounds began to heal before the survivors' eyes. Linn smiled adorably until Michael's eyes shot open. She gasped in horror at the sight of the ghostly white milky eyes of an undead cannibal.

"Linn1 Get away from him!" Thomas shouted.

"No!" Linn screamed. She gasped again, this time in shock as Michael's eyes shined bright yellow again, then purple, then a soulless black. Linn kept caressing Michael's forehead until the blackness in his eyes faded and his dark brown pupils returned.

"Linn…what's happening to me?" Michael's struggled breathing eased.

"You're getting better. Turning back to normal." Linn replied.

"No…something's different." Michael's eyes kept glancing from the left to right.

"What?" Linn wondered.

"I don't know…I…" Michael started.

"Warning self-destruct sequence has been initiated…." The recording began then was interrupted by Bernard's insane cackling. "Quiet wench! Those who have taken my life should know that I will in turn take theirs!"

"What…the…fuck?" Michael, Thomas, and Jacob all said in unison.

"That's right! My life was the most valuable here on Umbrella Isle! I programmed the self-destruct sequence to activate if anything should stop my precious black heart from beating!" A recording of Bernard's voice played over the intercom.

"Oh no…" Linn gazed up at the intercom.

"Of course I am a biochemist and engineer so my work may lead me into the depths of the undead. So I've chosen to give myself a five-minute lifeline…in hopes that whatever experiment I may be working on does not result in my prolonged flat line. So maybe…you can…"

A loud bang echoed inside the laboratory and a gold bullet ripped through the intercom, silencing Bernard's antagonizing voice. "Die…" The gun clicked as its last bullet casing flung from its chamber.

Michael rose to his feet as bright red lights flashed inside the laboratory. "It's gonna be hard getting out of here without a gun."

Another nine-millimeter Berreta shined in Thomas's hand under the red light. "I took it off the harbor floor. It fell out of your pants when you were on that table."

"You had a gun all this time?" Michael asked.

"Yeah." Thomas replied.

"Well give it here." Michael reached out.

Thomas handed Michael the gun and the six survivors dashed across the laboratory floor towards the elevator and crowded inside. As the elevator neared the top floor a violent rumble shook the large machine and all of the humans inside of it.

"Oh my god we're too late!" Frank shouted.

No fires consumed the startled humans.

Michael gave Frank a sarcastic glance. "…Pussy."

The elevator doors opened on the top floor to a small group of undead employees.

"Shit!" Jacob shouted.

Michael stepped out of the elevator into the group of virus infected humans. His fist ripped through the gut of the nearest undead man but the zombie's gut reformed and healed almost immediately after Michael removed his fist. "Hmmm…alright then." He reached into the wall and pulled out a live wire from the circuitry then wrapped it around the undead man's neck. Michael kicked the man into the group of R-Virus infected zombies and watched as they all went up in electrical flames. His eyes turned to the group of stunned humans inside the elevator. "Let's go."

"Run, run." Bernard's insane laugh echoed through the intercoms scattered throughout the ceiling of building. "Run my guinea pigs! Run!"

The roof of Umbrella Headquarters harbored an assortment of zombies, each infected by one of the three viruses. They wandered aimlessly around an advanced imitation of a Blackhawk helicopter.

"It may interest you, whoever you may be to know that it doesn't matter if you escape Umbrella Headquarters…This isn't just some corporation imposed failsafe explosive. The entire island has been wired with nuclear warheads! The chain will start here and spread throughout the island destroying everything!" Another insane cackle erupted from the intercoms.

"Let's go! Come on!" Thomas shouted.

Everyone crowded into the Blackhawk and Frank sat down in the pilot's seat. Michael raised his gun and centered its barrel on the head of an undead woman shuffling towards the chopper.

"Hey wait!" Thomas shouted.

"What!" Michael asked.

"There's only one bullet left in it." Thomas warned.

"Shit!" Michael shot his leg forward taking the zombie's head off then turned facing the pilot's seat. "Let's get this thing in the air!"

The chopper propellers began to spin while the survivors gazed out at an enormous crowd of undead civilians, scientists, and Umbrella employees. The zombies pushed and shoved their way out of the Umbrella Headquarters front entrance and scattered out into the streets of the island. Linn found herself in the back right corner of the chopper with Michael sitting close to her. The rest of the survivors were near the pilot's seat waiting for Frank to get the chopper off of the ground.

"Come on god damnit! You don't know how to fly a chopper do you? Don't jump into a pilot's seat of a helicopter if you don't know how to fly it!" Jacob screamed.

"Will you shut the hell up?" Frank shouted. "All choppers are the same…once you get them started anyway. After that it's easy. And I've already gotten it started so just shut up and wait for the thing to power up!"

"Michael…" Linn said quietly.

Michael turned to Linn. "What's up?"

"Well…we might not survive this…even if Frank can get the chopper flying." Linn's eyes harbored everything she wanted to say. She just hoped that she could get a chance to say it.

"Yo…we're gonna get out of here. Everyone's gonna go back to their lives and all that good shit." Michael assured her.

"My life…" Linn whispered then gazed up into Michael's eyes. "You've become such a big part of it."

"What?" Michael wondered.

Linn took in a deep breath. "I know that…you don't think I feel anything for you but that isn't true."

Michael's breath left him and was replaced with confusion, fear, and anticipation. "Well…I…"

A restrained laugh from Linn silenced the young man. "You know I saw this movie once where this lady said that relationships built on extreme situations never work…"

"Re…relationship?" Michael couldn't form any words of his own.

Linn placed her hand on Michael's cheek. "But…" She took in another deep breath. "You've known nothing but pain and loneliness your whole life. I want…I want to take your pain away."

"Linn stop." Michael turned his head away. "I just want to make sure you get out of here alive. So you can be happy with…whoever it is makes you happy."

"You make me happy…" Linn's voice was calm and soothing.

Michael gazed into Linn's eyes with tears building up behind his own eyes. That one sentence Linn had just said to him took an immense weight off of his heart. He instantly knew that now, if he wanted, he could hold her and touch her. He could even kiss her if he wanted and instead of an awkward uncomfortable feeling, she would feel happy. Michael and Linn leaned closer to each other as the chopper finally lifted off the Umbrella Headquarters rooftop. Two seconds before they could kiss, a violent rumbling shook the chopper. Michael and Linn both turned their stares to the open sliding doorway and what they saw brought shock to their eyes.

"Oh you have got to be shitting me." Michael frowned.

Todd's claws were buried deep into the floor of the chopper and his immense weight began to pull the vehicle down towards the roof of Umbrella Headquarters. "Liiiinnnnnnn…." His right hand shot forward towards the frightened young woman.

Michael's fingers dug deep into Todd's forearm and held it still in place. "Keep your messed up hands away from my woman!" Michael ripped Todd's arm off and in the middle of the monster's loud shrieks, centered the barrel of his gun on the mutants forehead. "Report this." The gunshot rang out even louder than the whirling chopper blades of the helicopter.

The chopper lowered in front of Umbrella Headquarters as Todd's monstrous form crashed through the roof and was consumed by the nuclear fires from the corporation's warheads. One by one, the windows of the building began to melt and shatter as a bright orange light shined behind them. Thirty seconds later the Blackhawk shot through the air as the Umbrella skyscraper exploded and a nuclear hellfire lashed out in every direction. Every few seconds another earth shaking explosion erupted behind the chopper as it sped towards the ocean. Three minutes into the chase the chopper was consumed by the flames with the rest of the island.

Black smoke covered a forty-mile radius that was once Umbrella Isle. Thousands of splashing sounds echoed from within the smoke until every piece of the island sank beneath the ocean. Silence engulfed the area for a handful of moments until suddenly a small section of the wall of smoke was slashed to pieces by the blades of the Blackhawk chopper.

"You know Linn…" Michael said after he put his arm around the beautiful girl sitting next to him.

"Yes Michael?" Linn asked while staring out at the rising sun.

"I was thinkin'…how are we supposed to uh…you know I mean when we get to that point." Michael stammered.

Linn giggled. "Um…like everyone else?"

"Yeah but I mean I got two viruses rollin' around in my DNA. If we…I could…" Michael explained.

Linn turned Michael's face to her own and kissed him deeply. "It's ok sweetie." She smiled. "We'll figure something out."

Michael smiled then laughed and watched the sunrise with his new girlfriend.

** The End.**


End file.
